Game Over: One Life Left
by Heart of a Dixon
Summary: Kaiya and Daryl have finally revealed their relationship in front of the group. But that sure as hell doesn't mean that the coast is clear. There are still those walkers to deal with and Kaiya has already had two strikes. In this hellish game she only has one life left. Third and possibly last installment to the Game Over series.
1. Spanish Can Bite Me

KAIYA'S POV:

I pulled my backpack out of my truck and looked through the bigger pocket. It might be the end of the world, but that's no reason to let my education be discontinued… or at least that's what Lori said.

I growled in annoyance and slung the backpack over my shoulder. "Even in the apocalypse I have homework," I grumbled, stomping away toward the motel.

Carol passed by me, smiling good-naturedly. I tried to smile back, but the prospect of returning to my algebra book (along with the fact that Carol was in cahoots with that traitor, Lori) made it feel like a scowl.

I walked into the motel, expecting it to be cooler inside, but it was just as sweltering in here as it was out there. Oh right… Zombie apocalypse = no AC.

"Backpack?" Glenn asked as I walked into the manager's office (which had become our makeshift living room).

I nodded. "Lori thinks I need to keep up my studies and set a good example for Carl and Sophia." I glanced over at the two kids, who were sitting at a small table, adding numbers and writing essays and whatnot.

Lori walked in, holding a 5th grade level English book. She handed it to Carl who grimaced.

"I feel your pain, little man," I muttered, holding my Spanish workbook up so he could see it.

"Okay, now get to work," Lori said, sternly pointing to our work and sitting down beside Glenn in the couch.

"Yes, mom," I said, play-glaring at her.

She chuckled.

"Why do I have to do this?" I asked, groaning. "I should be out with Shane, Rick, and Daryl, hunting for supplies in the city! It cant be even close to as dangerous as the terrible headache this work is going to give me."

She shook her head in exasperation. "You're still a high school student, regardless of your enrollment status."

"Damn," I whispered. I whined and let my head hang back as I sat at the table across from Carl and Sophia. I looked back and forth between them. "Either of you know Spanish?"

They giggled and shook their heads no.

I sighed, "Figures," and opened up the workbook, turning to the page I had left off on. I only had 3 or 4 more chapters left in the book. Maybe if I finished it, I wouldn't be forced to do this shit by Lori the slave-driver.

"I wish Miguel was still here. He knew Spanish." My stomach clenched up. My detached tone and the pained face I pulled made Glenn frown.

Lori, trying to keep me from being depressed, changed the subject. "So why do you hate Spanish so much? It seems like all I ever hear from you is griping about Spanish."

I gave her a flat look. "That was the one class I never understood a single thing in. It was like a foreign language or something. Plus… I'm convinced Spanish is the sole reason for the apocalypse. I was taking a Spanish final exam when I had my first run-in with a walker who ate the only other classmate who showed up for the test. I blame Spanish."

She raised a brow at me, but asked no questions.

I made it through about 4 questions in the time Sophia and Carl had finished their math homework and had been learning to play checkers with Glenn.

"Lori!" I whined pathetically. "Will you help me?"

She had been on her way out the door, but she stopped in the doorway and turned back to me with an unimpressed look. "Do I look like I speak Spanish?" She left the room.

I dropped my pen and stood, stretching my stiff legs.

I glanced back at Glenn and the kids. They were too preoccupied with the fact that Sophia was totally beating Glenn at checkers (she deserves a trophy; Glenn had kicked my ass at checkers since forever) to notice that I was about to sneak off and totally ditch my not-even-anywhere-near-half-way-done homework.

Merle would love to help with my academics neglecting behavior. Hell, if I knew Merle, he would probably give me the Dixon seal of approval just for tricking Lori.

Making sure the den mother from hell wasn't anywhere in the hallway, I knocked on Merle's door. He didn't answer and I got paranoid that Lori might be just around the corner.

"Merle, let me in," I hissed, knocking again.

The door opened, but it wasn't Merle that came out. Emily, holding her shoes in her hand and her shirt a bit lopsided, squeezed past me, avoiding my eyes. I watched her walk down the hall back to her room, my eyes wide and I'm sure my mouth was flopped open.

"Whatcha need, baby doll?" Merle asked, standing shirtless in the doorway.

I fought the urge to gag. How could he and Daryl be related? "Put a shirt on, old man." I pushed past him and entered the room. It was hot in the room, stickiness in the air all around us. "Smells like sex in here," I said, wrinkling my nose.

He closed the door and walked over to the bed, pulling on his old ripped up shirt and said, "So what do ya need?"

I sighed and sat on the floor, unwilling to sit on the bed. Ughh…

"Lori's making me do homework. I have had to kill my parents, learn about the existence of walkers, fall in love with a temperamental hillbilly close to twice my age, get lost in the woods after almost getting blown up, get my memory lost due to the trauma of being a rape victim, and after _surviving_ all of that bullshit, I'm STILL not excused from handing in a report on Oliver Twist."

Merle's expression had hardened through my rant, around the part where I mentioned the rape that had happened to me multiple times after I was abducted by some hooligans who were now safely tucked away as the mush in the non-operating digestive system of a walker. Merle had become very protective of me, sort of like Glenn. Like a big brother, only… bigger.

"So I snuck out. I figured you could appreciate my lack of respect for our completely deteriorated educational system, so I came here. But I guess you were a little… busy?" I gave him a cocky grin.

He broke the hard mask he wore and chuckled, nodding. "She came in here askin' 'bout Daryl, ended up leavin' with a little taste o' Merle."

I retched (unsure if it was real or not) at his suggestive expression. "TMI, dude," I shuddered. Nappy. "So she was asking about Daryl?" I started slowly, trying not to sound too nosy-girlfriend (I still couldn't get over that title).

Her snooping was a bit suspicious. Way back when (meaning a couple weeks ago, before I developed and overcame amnesia), Daryl and I had come up with a plan to detract attention from our growing relationship and draw that attention toward the "relationships" we developed with other people while in public. We hadn't let them in on the little charade, but we snuck off to see each other often.

Emily had been Daryl's other woman. I was the first one though. So Emily could suck a big one if she was still hung up on him. But while I had been stuck in forgetfulness, she had apologized, requesting me to remember the talk we had when I regained my memory. She had been making atonements for all of the hateful things she had done to me. And I supposed it was time I womaned up and did the same to her.

But she had seemed to be over Daryl (I don't know how the fuck that happened; one does not simply "get over" Daryl Dixon). She had been keeping her distance from him and now she was asking about him again?

"Yeah, she just wanted to know if he had said anythin' 'bout her avoidin' him like a goddamn leper." So I wasn't just going crazy.

I nodded. "And… has he?"

He looked over at me, smirking. "Ya'd know better than me."

I looked away from his light-heatedly accusing gaze, face burning. "I haven't had sex with Daryl if that's what you're trying to say."

He shook his head. "Nah, that aint what I'm sayin' at all, baby doll. I'm just sayin' y'all talk to each other more than we do. Hell I aint had a meaningful conversation with that boy since we was in high school. So nah, I aint implyin' anythin'. Ya brought the sex thang up on yer own. Guilty conscience?"

I gave him a sneer. "Hardly."

Why did I hang out with him again?

"So why ya sittin' in the middle o' the floor?" he asked, looking around.

I glanced cautiously at the bed, surprisingly tidy for what I had almost walked in on. "I don't wanna sit up there where you two did the dirty. That's just gross."

He snorted, trying to hold in laughter.

"What?"

"We weren't on the bed." He stared pointedly at the ground under me.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. An intense wave of nausea swept over me and I surged to my feet, throwing the door open and running out into the hall with Merle's laughter following me out. But before I got halfway down the hall, I ran right into Lori. "Oh, fuck me sideways!"

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**So, I'm back and have brought another sequel with me. I made the first chapter kind of a random, lighthearted little goof so I could get back into the habit of Kaiya-ness after having to make her such a little goody-two-shoes during her amnesiac-attack. But anyway, it might take a while to get another chapter out since I have basically no idea what to put in here other than the plot between Shane and Merle to kill Rick. But then again, maybe I will have a lightbulb and post another chapter by tomorrow. Thanks for reading! Hope you guys liked it! Review! :) **


	2. Shopping

SHANE'S POV:

Even though it was almost winter, it was still extremely hot. I fanned myself with my hand as I rested against the brick wall of an old Home Depot.

Rick sighed and fell to the ground, leaning back on the wooden gate across from me. My hand itched to grab the gun out of my holster and shoot him in the face right now. _No… Remember what Merle said, we have to be patient. _Never thought I would team up with a random redneck who was helping me to kill my best friend. But then again, I bet Merle never thought he would be partnering up with a cop to bring about the demise of a man who caused the loss of his left hand.

Daryl, ever the composed (more or less) hunter, just stood and surveyed the surrounding area. I eyes his ripped off sleeves enviously. With I had done that… But if I do it now, I'll look like a poser. "What's the plan?" Daryl drawled at Rick, cutting off my immature thoughts.

Maybe Bowling for Soup really was right… High school didn't ever end. Even in the apocalypse.

Rick took a moment to take some deep breaths and collect his thoughts. "We'll have to sneak our way into that K-mart over there," he gestured across the street at a store with plenty of walkers milling about without purpose, and, for right now anyway, without drive. "Shane and I will cause a distraction outside, drawing them away from the store. While they're focused, Daryl, you make your way into the store and gather the supplies."

"Why does Daryl have to do it?"

Rick gave me an annoyed look. "Because he's the quietest and lightest on his feet other than Kaiya and she's not here right now."

I still saw one major flaw in this plan. "How do we get back to the motel?"

He fell silent, biting his cheek as he thought.

"Yeah, and what's the distraction gonna be?" Daryl asked skeptically.

Rick stared at the parking lot outside the building for a minute before he said, "We'll hotwire some cars, set off the horns and do donuts in the parking lot. More of them will be too interested in all the noise to notice Daryl going by them. And that way we have two getaway vehicles. That way if Daryl cant get to one, there's a backup. When Daryl comes out, we all head back to the motel."

Daryl snorted. "Hot wirin' cars, disturbin' the peace, and destruction of public property. You pigs are startin' to turn around."

"So are we gonna do this or not?" I asked, shouldering my shotgun.

Rick and Daryl nodded once and we took off, sneaking cautiously across the street. We looked like paranoid wannabe ninjas. Or at least Rick and I did. Daryl simply turned into the lithe and feral hunter we all know and loved to hate. It was a short distance from our original stopping point to the parking lot, but the feat that a walker could pop up at any moment made it feel like a lifetime. No moment of gushy "If-I-don't-make-it-back" shit passed between us. We simply split up when we reached the entrance to the parking lot. Daryl stayed behind the buggy return and Rick and I went in different directions to find a car.

I ran, trying to stay low, toward an old red sedan I had locked in my sights. I was nearing the car when a single walker, much farther off than the rest, looked up in interest at me. I picked up speed and pulled on the door's handle.

But it didn't move. The door was locked. I looked back. The walker still had a little way to go, but he was becoming enraged with the fact that his food was about to get away. Thankfully he could only move so fast on those busted up legs.

I looked around on the asphalt. Wire hanger…. Hanger, hanger, hanger… Crowbar? That'll work.

I picked the hot metal up and, before I could chicken out, smashed the window, drawing the attention of more walkers. The alarm went off. More perfect for the diversion. Way less perfect for my health. Several other walkers looked up, groaning and shuffling over to me. I reached inside the busted window and popped the lock.

I hopped in and leaned down, pulling the wires out for easier access. The first walker was at the back of the car.

"Shit," I grumbled, cutting the wires. I was twisting them together when a hand reached inside the broken window and grabbed my shirt. I kept the wires in a tight grip, trying to keep calm as I pulled away and continued twisting.

"Start," I yelled at the steering wheel. "Start, damn it!"

The walker was trying to force itself through the window and into the car. The other walkers were in a mob-like formation, stumbling close to the hood of the car. Then the radio started playing.

I grinned, quickly stomping on the gas, sending the walker to the pavement. Another walker ended up sprawled out on the hood, but the others still kept coming, no sense of self-preservation guiding them. I threw the car into reverse and shot backward, the walker on the hood rolling off.

Through the commotion, I could see Rick's car spinning on the other side of the parking lot, hitting walkers left and right, as well as Daryl, sneaking silently through the store's door.

"You had better hurry, Dixon," I said, unsure why I was talking to him when I knew he couldn't hear me. I stomped on the gar once again and started making serpentine figures, skating the car in and out of the group of walkers, occasionally hitting walkers. I even started awarding myself points.

DARYL'S POV:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: shopping is a pain in my ass.

I could hear Shane and Rick out in the parking lot over the noise of the walkers, their brakes screeching as their tires slid across the parking lot.

I was able to sneak my way through most of the store unnoticed by any walkers. I had made it to the backpack area and grabbed a couple to load up our junk in, then gone to the canned foods section when I ran into the first one. Luckily, I had been able to do away with it before it could do anything to me or call others' attention to me.

I was also able to scavenge 6 or 7 cans of food. I wasn't sure what they were due to the busted lights of the store.

I quickly ran across the clothing aisle, picking random pieces of clothing up as well as ass-loads of under-things, thinking that surely someone would need these.

Then I had a dilemma. I still had plenty of room in the bags for the medicine and medical devices we could definitely use. But, as I paused right before the pharmacy section, I saw a large group of walkers, lazily groaning and barely moving from where they sat.

I needed to get into the back part where the pharmacists usually were. All I needed were a few minutes to run to the door and get inside. I felt around on the ground around me (there were random things from all over the store laying in the floor due to the initial panic the up cropping of walkers had caused) and picked up a…well, I'm not completely sure what it was but it did the trick.

I stood back up silently and threw it sideways over the aisles beside me, going for distance. I heard the whatever hit the ground with a clatter. I could clearly make out the silhouetted shapes of the walkers in front of the pharmacy, suddenly get the motivation to move a little faster and chase after the noise.

When they were all a safe distance from the door, I ran, not stopping to look back, and barely pausing to open the door. I still kept quiet; for all I knew there were more back here than out there. I scooped everything I could get into the bag with minimal noise.

When I was done, I went back out of the door. But this time I had been an idiot and not bothered being quiet. Those walkers must've gotten bored with my little diversion. They were back and even in the darkness I could see they were pissed.

"Fuck," I spat, running as fast as I could back in the direction of the store's entrance.

I could hear even more walkers joining my followers and I picked up my speed, now able to see the sunlight coming in from the door. I chanced a glance backward. Oh damn, that's more than seven.

These damn bags were weighing me down. But I couldn't ditch them, they were the whole reason we had come here in the first place and all of this careful planning would have been a waste of time and energy.

So I took a tighter hold on the bags, keeping up my pace and raced out of the door, unsure if I would make it back to Kaiya again or not.

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**Thanks for reading! Hope you guys liked it! :) Review! :D**


	3. An Accident

RICK'S POV:

The moment Daryl made it out of the store, being tailed by another crowd of walkers, some of the walkers Shane and I were distracting caught sight of him and realized that this would be easier to get to. Some of them weren't so smart, but there were still enough to be deadly for Daryl.

He didn't stop running when he got out, but ran towards the exit of the parking lot.

I honked the horn twice, hoping Shane would recognize it as the signal we used when in the caravan to pull over. Luckily he only hesitated a moment before following my lead and busting out of his crowd of walkers and toward Daryl.

I pulled up next to him, blocking off some of the walkers. He was able to turn back toward me and knock back a couple of the walkers in order to get to the passenger's door. But it was still locked.

"Unlock the damn door!" Daryl yelled loudly, banging on the window as the walkers he knocked over started to get back up.

I leaned across the seat and unlocked it.

But one of the walkers had a hold on Daryl's shoulder and was trying to sink it's teeth into him. Daryl yelled and threw his elbow backward, bending over slightly and the walker went backward a bit in his midsection where it had been hit. Daryl opened the door while it was semi-dazed and got in, shutting the door just before it could reach its hand out again.

Walkers were starting to surround the car. Daryl was in the passenger's seat, frantically searching his shoulder for scratch marks. And the car stopped. The engine shut off, leaving us with the terrifying silence of walker moans and gurgles.

Daryl, still breathing hard, looked back and forth between me and the ignition.

I twisted the key, trying to start it, but it just clicked.

"What the fuck's happenin'?" Daryl asked.

"We're out of gas!" I yelled down at the steering wheel, slamming my hand against it.

"Shit," Daryl sighed quietly, surprisingly non-violent. He leaned back and rubbed a hand over his face as walkers swarmed the car.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, shocked that something as unfortunate as this could happen at such an inopportune time. And after we had already made it so far!

"I lied to her," Daryl said, watching the walkers at the window trying to tear at the cracking glass.

I gave him a confused look but he wasn't watching me, so I just waited until he explained.

"I told Kaiya, right before we left, that I would be back soon. I told her I'd be back safe 'round noon."

I glanced at my watch. "Guess we're a little late."

He shook his head slowly and looked back at me. "Nah, Rick. We aint gonna make it back." He leaned his head back again the headrest. "We're gonna die."

SHANE'S POV:

I heard Rick honk the horn twice. It took a second for me to realize that that was probably the cue.

I stomped the gas pedal and ran over three or so walkers that were in front of the hood. I caught sight of Daryl, three backpacks filled with our supplies slung over his shoulder. I could also see Rick heading toward him. I couldn't do anything other than idle where I was and wait till we were ready to leave.

But a walker came up behind Daryl and grabbed his shoulder. Daryl quickly knocked the walker back a few steps and jumped into the car with Rick. But the engine had died. Why?

I saw Rick through the windshield trying to restart the car, but it wouldn't start back up. Then my view was cut off by walkers. They were surrounding their car. There was nothing I could do for them.

I grinned slowly. This was what Merle and I had been waiting for. It looked like an accident. Hell, it was an accident. I would just go back to camp and tell everyone that there was nothing more I could do. No way to save them or even try.

Merle would probably be a little pissed that his brother had died along with Rick, but he would have to deal with it. I was even a little disappointed that Daryl was dying; he was our main source of food.

Kaiya would probably beat the shit out of me for letting him die. But eventually, she would forget about him. She was just a teenager and teenagers don't stay in love long. But my stomach clenched up as I thought about Kaiya. She would do more than beat me up. She would murder me in my sleep. And I knew that whole teenagers don't stay in love long thing was total bullshit in this case. Kaiya and Daryl were star-crossed fucking lovers. Not even death could separate them.

But this was how it ended and there was no fixing it. So I pulled out of the parking lot and left Daryl and Rick to be devoured.

KAIYA'S POV:

I paced nervously in the "living room", chewing on my lip and staring hard at the floor. Lori and Carl were sitting on the couch, Lori's arm protectively around Carl's shoulders and her eyes glancing around worriedly.

Glenn was standing in the doorway. "You know, they probably just had a long walk."

I shook my head. "No way, they told me how far away the store was going to be. They should have been back by now," I said, not taking my eyes off the carpet.

I heard the door to the motel open and my head snapped up. I ran past Glenn and looked up at the door, grinning, excited and expecting to see Daryl. But all I saw was Shane, an unbelieving look on his face.

I looked around behind him. "Shane?" I asked, stepping out of the room and toward him. "Where are Daryl and Rick? Are they still at the car?" I looked out the door behind him but saw no Daryl or Rick.

He shook his head. Then, slowly, he lifted his eyes to meet mine. "They didn't make it." His words were spoken softly, quietly.

I shook my head. "No. No, they have to have made it."

He gave me a sad look and walked past me to the living room.

"They have to," I whispered, looking out of the door. But my voice was squeaky and the bottom of my vision was getting blurry. "No," I said again, sinking to my knees on the ground and leaning against the door. I brought my knees to my chest and sobbed, not caring that some people stopped and stared at me as they went into the living room to get the news from Shane.

We had lost our leader and we had lost our hunter. But I had lost everything. Daryl dead? The words didn't sound right in my head. Daryl Dixon could not be dead. But my eyes didn't get the message. He was still alive. He was out there somewhere, we just had to look.

Merle would help me. I was barely able to lift myself up enough to stumble down the hallway to Merle's door again. I knocked.

His door opened. "What's the matter, baby doll?" His tone was instantly alert.

I held my arms close to my body, trying not to completely fall to pieces again. I wanted to tell him we had to go out and search for Daryl and Rick. But my mouth said another thing. "Daryl didn't make it."

His face went expressionless, his jaw clenching and unclenching over and over.

The tears flowed faster down my cheeks and my chest heaved with sobs.

"C'mere," he said, pulling me into a hug. Looking back, I never thought Merle Dixon would hug anyone, much less a crying 17 year old. It seemed like I stayed there forever.

"He cant be dead, can he?" I asked, crying still. "He's still alive, right?"

He hesitated before sighing. "Kaiya-"

"Don't tell me he isn't going to make it. Don't tell me he's gone!" I said, pulling out of his arms. "Don't tell me he isn't coming back because I cant take it. I cant accept that! Daryl is still alive and he's gonna be fine!" I turned away from him and ran down the hall to my room.

As I passed by the living room, I didn't register everyone saying, "Rick?" in an almost terrified voice. I didn't listen.

I threw open my door and quickly shut it behind me, leaning my forehead against it as I cried. "He cant be dead," I whispered. "He cant. He's still alive. He has to be. Has to be."

When I finally turned around, there was someone standing in my room. I squinted at the person. It was Daryl. But he didn't quite look himself.

"Daryl?"

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**:O Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! Review! :) **


	4. Relief

KAIYA'S POV:

"Oh my God, Daryl, I thought you were-" I cut off, unable to finish the sentence as I rushed forward, hugging him tightly as the tears continued spilling over.

His arms immediately wrapped around me. "Kaiya," he whispered, sighing my name reverently.

I pulled back, still in the circle of his arms and put my hands on either side of his face. There was a long cut on his cheek and he was covered in dirt. "What happened to you? Shane said that you and Rick-" I gulped.

He shook his head. "We almost did. Our car got swarmed and we were out of gas."

I moved closer to him, holding him tighter. "How did you make it out?"

He took a breath and started to explain.

But I stopped him. "No. I don't want to know. I'm just glad you're back."

He gave me a soft, slow smile and nodded. "Me too."

I looked at the cut on his cheek. "What happened here?"

He lifted his hand to brush a finger over it. "Glass. The windows on our car got busted in."

I saw the backpacks he had left beside my bed. "Supplies?" I asked, nodding to them.

He nodded back.

"Medical stuff?"

He nodded again.

"Sit down, I'll clean you up while you explain it to me."

He sat down and smirked cockily at me. "I thought ya didn't wanna know."

I pulled the medical supplies out and rolled my eyes at him. "Well, I changed my mind. Now shut up and talk."

He raised a brow but didn't point out the contradictory qualities of the statement. I cleaned up his face and the other small cuts along his arms as he explained to me how he and Rick had been able to practically (and miraculously) crowd-surf the walkers till they were out of the parking lot of the store and then ran their way back here after Shane.

"We got here a couple of minutes ago. I came here first."

I sighed and said, "Now take your shirt off, I can see the cuts through your shirt."

He gave me a sexy smile as he started to unbutton his shirt.

"I wasn't coming on to you when I told you to take your shirt off," I said, rolling my eyes and trying to ignore the blush that came to my cheeks when he smiled like that.

"What's that s'posed to mean?"

I quickly turned back to him, bandage in hand. "I didn't mean I wouldn't come on to you, I was just saying that I wasn't in that moment." After the antiseptic-covered bandaid was placed over the cut on his chest, I looked up at him, not moving away. "Now, I am."

I pushed his chest so that he fell back onto the pillows behind him. He kept his eyes locked with mine. I leaned down over him, kissing him slowly and letting the heat build.

"I'm so glad you're here," I whispered to him between kisses.

"I had to come back. I promised," he whispered back.

His hands rested lightly over the dip in my side. He gently squeezed, pulling me closer to him. I started to take his unbuttoned shirt the rest of the way off, but just as I got one side off, the door to my room opened, revealing me straddling Daryl and pulling his clothes off.

"Oh God," Andrea said, shielding her eyes. "Sorry, guys. Umm, just came to check and make sure Daryl made it in. Uhh… Awkward. Sorry." She closed the door behind her and left.

Daryl sighed and leaned his head back. I thought I heard him whisper the words, "Boner kill," but I wasn't sure.

I didn't roll off him, but I leaned down, laying my head on his chest. "I love you, Daryl," I whispered, listening to the way my words affected his heart. I smiled.

"I love ya too, Kaiya," he said quietly, wrapping his arms around me.

I pulled my legs up and laid the tops of my thighs along the length of his body, putting my feet in the air and propping my head up with my hands so that I was laying like a typical teenage girl would on a big pink bed. But I was laying on a big sexy redneck.

"What?" he asked as I watched his eyes.

"Just looking," I responded, holding my hands up in surrender.

"Why? You can look any time. But I'm yours, you're allowed to do more than look." He grabbed my hand and brought it to his face.

I laughed once and looked down, blushing. "Yeah, but I just really love your eyes."

He gave me a funny look.

"What?" I asked. Was it so weird that I found his deep blue eyes completely gorgeous?

"I just never had anybody tell me that."

It was my turn to give him a weird look. "That's surprising. They're beautiful."

He grinned. "You're beautiful."

I rolled my eyes. "And you're awful cheesy for a Dixon."

"I'm just happy I have ya. I didn't think I was gonna make it back. I thought I was never gonna see ya again."

I frowned. When he talked like that and got that faraway look, I wanted to do nothing for the rest of my life but hold him tight and tell him it would be okay. He must've been hell on babysitters. Probably always got his way.

I rolled over next to him and wrapped my arms around his head, laying his head over my heart. Yes I realize that was my boob, but he was mature, he could deal with it. I played with his hair as he wound his arms around my waist.

"Oh, by the way," I said, suddenly remembering something. "I know what happened that night at the CDC."

His body jerked. He looked up at me. "What?"

"When we got drunk? We didn't have sex, Daryl. We just played strip poker with Glenn and made out. A lot."

He sighed. "Well, I guess that's a good thing…"

"Huh?"

"Well, at the time, I didn't want us to have done anything like that. Now, I'm not so sure I don't."

I felt my face heat up.

"I'm not tryin' to pressure ya into it or anything like that!" he said quickly.

"Shh," I said around a laugh. "I know you're not. Now shut up and go to sleep. You almost died today, you need rest." It still kind of hurt to think of what almost happened to him, but him being here and in my arms made it better.

He sighed and relaxed.

I played with his hair and hummed Dare You to Move by Switchfoot as he tried to sleep. I knew the moment he fell asleep because his body went completely limp and he started to snore, surprisingly quiet.

When I finally realized that this wasn't a dream, that Daryl really had survived and made it back to me, I kissed his forehead and fell asleep.

* * *

**Woo! So Daryl is not a walker and he is unbitten/unstratched and he has returned to his woman! :D Hope you guys liked this chapter! Thanks for reading! :) Review! **


	5. Call Me Maybe

GLENN'S POV:

"Where are Kaiya and Daryl?" I asked, realizing they weren't anywhere around.

"Probably throwing a party now that they're together again," T-dog said with a grin.

"Yeah," Andrea said with a grimace. "I walked in on their little reunion."

I squeezed my eyes shut. "Please tell me they weren't having sex."

"No, they weren't. But you may wanna find another room," Andrea said.

I sighed.

"Hey, at least she's distracting him and he's not going all angry hillbilly on us in here," T-dog said.

Dale nodded.

I looked up at Shane who was looming in the doorway. Nobody else seemed to notice the glare he was giving Rick. Merle, as well, was glowering darkly at the sheriff. But when we mentioned his brother (who had survived along with Rick), he seemed to lighten his scowl up.

Carl and Sophia started yawning, so the mothers decided it was bedtime for everyone.

I approached Dale as everyone filed out of the room. "I guess I'll take watch with you for the night since my bed has been invaded."

Dale chuckled and nodded, patting me on the shoulder. We walked out to the glass front doors of the motel and watched as the sky darkened. "It's a good thing Kaiya got her memory back," Dale said, sitting in a chair. "We could be needing her to fight sometime soon."

I nodded and sat in the chair next to him. "I'm glad she's back to herself. I missed her you know?" I found it easy to talk to Dale about stuff like this.

He nodded. "We all did."

Nothing more was said for the rest of the night that wasn't mumbled little phrases like, "Winter's coming soon" or "Moon's awful bright tonight."

KAIYA'S POV:

When I woke up in the morning, I was curled up against Daryl's chest, his warm arms around me. I shivered, the coldness of a winter-ish morning seeping into my bones. I pulled the covers up closer and snuggled closer to Daryl.

I could feel a chuckle deep in his chest. "G'mornin', babe," he said quietly, kissing the top of my head.

I groaned. "Cant we just stay here all day?"

He laughed again. "I wish."

"Well, just a few more minutes. I don't wanna get up. Please? I'm cold."

He sighed and held me closer.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him. "Thank you." I gave him a small kiss, thankful for his warmth. We laid there for a moment in peaceful silence before I thought of something. "How do you think we would've met if this whole walker thing hadn't happened?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, what do ya think?"

"Hmmm…"

_I rushed down the stairs after Donkey. "Damn dog!" I yelled after him as he ran out of the open front door, trying to follow after my father who was on his way to work. I was able to grab Donkey's collar. "You should really close the door when you leave dad," I said, breathing heavily. _

_He nodded. "Yeah I know." _

"_Hey, can I come to work with you today?" I asked, starting to walk back to the house so that I could put Donkey back inside. _

_He gave me a skeptical look. "If you miss another day of school, you're going to have to take some of your final exams, aren't you?" _

_I hesitated before nodding. "But it'll be worth it! I'll take the stupid exams if I can go to work with you today instead of school!" _

_He contemplated it for a moment. "Alright, but I don't want to hear any whining when you have to study." _

_I held my right hand up and nodded once. _

"_Well, lets go," my dad said, opening the passengers side door and gesturing for me to hop in. _

_I grinned excitedly and jumped into the car. He drove us quickly to the car shop he worked in. We walked in and I nodded to Billy, the cute guy a little bit older than me who worked there as well. He always smiled and blushed at me whenever I came in. _

"_Kaiya, you can help Billy work the front desk. You guys might also wanna sort through some paperwork." _

_I nodded and headed behind the counter. "Hey, Billy," I said to him. _

"_H-hi, Kaiya," he said, coughing to clear his throat. He was a sweet kid with blond hair and tan skin, but he just wasn't my type. _

_We worked for a lot of the day until finally my dad came out of his office, starting to pull his jacket on. _

"_Where are you headed, dad?" I asked, sitting up on the counter beside Billy who was leaning on his arms. _

"_Some guy just called in, needs some help with his engine. I've got two of them, so it may take a while." _

_I hopped off and skipped up to him. "Why don't I just go and help the guy while you get the other one?" _

_He gave me a funny look. "Someone's gotta stay and run the shop." _

_I pointed back at the counter. "Billy's here. And he's more qualified to run this place than me anyway." _

_Dad sighed. _

_I clasped my hands and stuck my lower lip out. _

"_Fine," he said. _

_I brought my fisted hand into my side, in a "score" gesture. He dropped me off back at home and let me pick my truck up, storing the tools I may need in the bed, then gave me the address. _

_I followed the instructions my dad had given me and pulled over behind it when I saw the beat up old blue pickup on the side of the road, a tall, built guy standing near the hood with his back to me. Damn. Even the back of him looked hot. _

_He heard my truck and turned around. I couldn't see him very good from this distance, but I could tell he was attractive. _

_I hopped out of the car in my short jean shorts and black hoodie, my extremely long black hair blowing around in the wind. I walked toward him. "You Daryl?" I asked, reading the name off of the piece of paper. _

_He nodded, watching me suspiciously through narrowed blue eyes. "They send me a fuckin' third grade girl to fix my truck?" _

_I grimaced. Sure I was short as fuck but usually people waited until after they had known me a while to start picking on me for it. "Actually, they sent a sixteen year old, since apparently your dumb ass couldn't fix the damn thing yourself." _

_He looked taken aback, eyes widened a bit. _

"_So what's wrong with it?" I asked. _

_He shrugged, seeming to have lost the ability to speak. _

_I squelched the urge to roll my eyes and moved to the hood of the blue truck, lifting it up so I could reach the engine. I leaned down to get a better look, conscious of the man's eyes on my ass. I blushed and turned around. "You mind getting my screwdriver out of the bed of my truck?" I asked, pointing back at it. _

_He glanced at it. "THAT is yer truck?" _

_I nodded, confused. "Yeah, why?"_

_He shook his head. "No reason," and walked back to it. _

_I watched him walk over as I pretended to be figuring out what was wrong with the engine; I already knew what was wrong and how to fix it. Though I might prolong the time just so I could see him more. It was weird, but he was very attractive. I bit my lower lip as I watched him reach into the back of my truck._

_Then he turned and caught sight of me, staring at him and chewing on my lip._

_I blushed and reached out for the screwdriver. I tinkered around with the different parts under the hood. It was a miracle the thing had run this long. But I probably didn't have to tell him that. It was no surprise it wouldn't restart. _

"_Well, I know what's wrong with it, but I don't have the tools with me to fix it here. I'll have to tow it into the shop and get to work on it there." I looked up then, stark blue eyes watching my own intently. _

_He nodded slowly. _

"_You can come with me to go pick up the stuff to tow your truck," I gestured for him to follow me over to my truck. _

_He made sure his own was locked before hopping up into the cab of my truck. "It's a little high up fer some'un so short, innit?" he asked, eyeing the road outside his closed door and then myself and my whole 5 feet 4 inches of pure Kaiya-ness. _

_I pulled away from the side of the road, making an illegal U-turn (don't tell my dad). I nodded my head to his truck as we pulled away. "It's a little nigger-rigged for someone so backwoods, innit?" _

_I could feel him glaring menacingly at me, but I could still feel the surprise in his stare. I just kept driving. _

_It had taken me about half an hour to get here. So I had 30 minutes to enjoy the time I had with this wonderful man. Lovely. I bit back the desire to groan. "So," I said awkwardly after the first 5 minutes of silent driving. "Your name's Daryl, you have a shitty blue truck, and apparently a temper. I feel like we're closer already." _

_He watched me through narrowed eyes. "Shouldn't ya be in school?" _

_I shrugged. "Took the day off." _

"_But you're working." _

"_Its more fun than skipping to go to the mall with a bunch of the idiots in my grade." _

_He nodded, giving a shrug to show that he understood and knew there was nothing anyone could do about _those_ types. _

_I found him surprisingly easy to talk to. We fought a little bit, as we had for the first part of our acquaintanceship, but for most of it, we found that we agreed on a lot of things. People were stupid, the government should all crawl into a hole and never come out, and Chuck Norris was the shit. _

_He cracked a few small grins when I told him some funny Chuck Norris jokes, but that was it. We pulled up to the garage talking about rap. _

"_The only rap I like is Eminem," I said. "Maybe some other old stuff, but he's the only one that I like no matter what." _

_Daryl hopped down out of the truck and we walked around the front of it to the doors of the shop. "What's that one's name? Lil' somethin' er other?" _

_I opened the door and let him follow me inside as we came into the building. "Oh, Lil' Wayne?" _

_He nodded. "Yeah. Is that really his name?" _

_I raised an eyebrow at him, walking into the view of the counter where Billy was watching me walk in. "Of course Lil' Wayne isn't his real name. Its Lillian Waynard." _

_He took a second to stare at me like I was crazy (which, unfortunately, I probably am) and then bust into loud laughter. I couldn't help but join in. His laugh was quite nice and I found it harder and harder not to laugh with him. _

_When I looked back ahead of me, I saw Billy glaring at the guy. _

_I ran toward the counter and hopped backwards up onto it on my butt, not slowing down any. "Hey, Billy-boy!" I said, ruffling his hair. "I need towing stuff. You know where dad keeps it?" _

_He gave Daryl a calculating look before nodding and said, "Yeah, over here." _

_When we passed by him, I noticed Daryl tense up and glare down at Billy. I could feel the testosterone in the air. _

"_Testosterone smells like balls," I murmured sarcastically to myself. _

"_Did you say something, Kaiya?" Billy asked, looking back at me. _

_I shook my head no. "Nope, not a damn thing." _

_But Daryl had been close enough to hear. He had an expression that clearly said he would like to check me into a mental hospital. _

_Great. Hot redneck deterrent, Kaiya Caston, guaranteed to make sexy cowboys think you're batshit or your money back. If only he knew I made up advertisement campaigns in my head, too… Oh the eye roll he would give me. Disappointment of epic proportions. _

_I followed Billy into the back closet where most of the tools were kept. He handed me the stuff to hook up to my truck and we started assembling it. _

_When we were done, I turned to Daryl. "You can either stay here till I get back with your truck or you can ride with me. Which ones it gonna be?" _

_He glanced over at Billy and decided with a smug look, "I'll go with ya." _

_Billy scowled and stomped (only semi-covertly) back to the counter he was manning. _

_We got back into my truck again and left the shop. The greater part of our ride was silent. Until, about halfway through the trip, Daryl said, "That guy yer boyfriend er somethin'?" _

_I gave him a strange look. "Billy? Hell no. He's a sweet kid, and pretty cute, but he's just not for me." I tried to tell myself his pleased look was just my imagination. _

_We towed the truck back into the shop and got to work on it. Pretty soon, I had fixed the truck. By the time I was done, I had my hoodie off, revealing my blue tank top and there was grease all over my clothes, face, and probably hair too. _

_I pulled myself out of the hood and closed it, turning to Daryl with a smile as I slung my wrench over my shoulder. "She's done." _

_He grinned lopsidedly. "Guess even third graders can fix trucks, eh?" _

_I nodded, "I'm one of the gifted few." I led him back to the counter and checked him out. _

_As he was signing the papers, I found one of my dad cards and discretely scratched out the shop's number and wrote my own above it. "If you ever need anything else, here's our card." _

_He nodded and took the card, looking down at it, a slow smile creeping across his face. "Thanks," he muttered quietly, walking back to his truck. _

_I hopped over the counter, unbelievably ecstatic. I danced around, using some moves I had used in the last competition I was in. _

_When I looked up, I could see Daryl's amused eyes watching me through the rearview mirror. I blushed, but refused to show I was embarrassed… so I kissed my hand and playfully blew it at him, making it obvious my mushy display was meant to be a joke._

_He rolled his eyes, but I could see his shoulders shaking. _

"So I'm a sexy redneck, eh?" he asked, squeezing me gently.

I nodded. "Have you not seen a mirror in your life?"

He laughed and said, "Alright, I think we've laid around fer long 'nough. Time to get up."

I groaned pitifully but got up with him.

* * *

**So I'm not sure how much I like this chapter, but I thought it would be a cute little thing to add in here to take their minds off the walkers and stuff... So lemme know what you guys think and review! :D **


	6. Facebook and Continuance

**Please don't hate me for my lack of updating-ness and stuff, but I am having some problems coming up with ideas. If any of you have any suggestions for where the story should go next, please feel free to PM me. **

**Also, I have been seeing a lot of fanfictions that are supposed to be like a facebook feed. There was a Walking Dead one made and I found it pretty funny, so I think I'm going to do one and put Kaiya in it, because after writing her into the Walking Dead so much, it doesn't feel right leaving her out :P So tell me what you guys think about that idea, I may and I may not depending on the response I get from you guys. As always, thanks for reading, and please please please review and tell me what you think! :) **

**-Ash**


	7. Uneven Split

DARYL'S POV:

We made our way to the living room where everyone was already sitting, bleary-eyed and thin-looking. Kaiya and I looked to be the only ones truly awake.

"Where's the food?" I asked, looking around at the lack of sustenance in the room.

Lori pulled something out of a bag. It was a couple cans of fruit. She tossed them to us. "That's the last of it. Eat up."

I frowned but consented, trading Kaiya my pears for her peaches. I would have to go hunting later.

I noticed Glenn watching me eat with an odd look. Andrea must've told him what she walked in on last night... Awkward.

I ate in silence and watched as everyone carried on quiet conversations and even laughed. I didn't get how they could laugh like that when food was running so low. Hell, I didn't get how they could laugh like that when there were walkers around.

I supposed they all had something that enabled them to laugh. Andrea and Dale had each other. Rick, Lori, and Carl. T-dog and Emily seemed to have formed some sort of a friendship. Glenn and Kaiya had each other. I had Kaiya and Merle. Carol had Sophia.

The only person who didn't have some type of moral/emotional support was Shane. I supposed that was why he had seemed so insane lately.

When I was done eating my peaches and Kaiya had finished her pears, I stood and gestured for her to follow me out into the hallway.

"What's up, cowboy?" she asked with a grin.

"I'm gonna go huntin', ya comin' with me, er not?"

"Wow, straight to the point. I'm coming, lemme just go grab my gun."

I nodded and went to the door to wait for her.

KAIYA'S POV:

It seemed like my whole body kicked into overdrive when I heard Daryl yell "Walkers!"

I grabbed my two bags from my room, as well as my guns, and ran out into the hallway where everyone was freaking out and running to hide. I went to Daryl. "How many?"

He pulled a tiny bit of the black blanket we had put over the glass door back so that he could peek outside. He immediately pushed it back down and whispered, "Shit!" under his breath. He looked up at my inquisitive gaze. "It's a whole fucking army o' those things."

I groaned quietly as Shane, Rick, and Glenn came up next to us. "How many?" Rick asked, checking the bullets in the chamber of his revolver.

I eyed it. "Too many for that gun."

He looked down at me and then did the same as Daryl had and looked outside. "Oh my God," he breathed, pulling away slowly.

"Kaiya, Daryl," Rick said quietly, addressing us. "Do you guys think you can hold down the front of this place while me, Shane, and Glenn sneak the others out the back?"

I nodded. "You got it boss."

Daryl nodded as well.

"Right. When we're all out, run."

We nodded again. As the others ran down the hall to the rest of the group, I grabbed Glenn's arm. He looked back down at me.

"Take my stuff for me?" I held my bags out to him.

He nodded and took them. But he seemed to not want to leave when he hesitantly turned.

I grabbed his arm again and lifted my fruit loop necklace from under my shirt so that he could see it. He gave me a small smile before running back down the hall to everyone.

The walkers were wandering around the cars outside. Daryl and I would have to cause a distraction from the inside to get their attention so the others could get to the cars.

"What's the plan?" I asked as Daryl and I sat with our backs against the see-through, sheet-covered doors and double-checked our ammunition. I turned my head and looked out of the glass door through a hole in the fabric. There were at least 20 of them. Easy.

"Just make a lot of noise, I guess. We're gonna have to make sure we time it right, so that we have time to let the others get to the cars and we can get out there with them."

I quickly ripped one strap off of my backpack and fastened it around my shotgun so I could hold my rifle without the awkwardness of also holding that handful of artillery. I strapped the gun around my torso and put my bags over my shoulder so I could fight easier.

"Here, lemme get one of those so you don't got so much."

I consented and handed one of my bags to Daryl since he had none with him himself. After he had the bag over his shoulder, we stood up.

"You ready for this?" I asked, turning to him.

He gave me a cocky grin that only Daryl Dixon could pull off in a moment of danger like this, and grabbed my wrist, tugging me toward his chest. He leaned down and swiftly placed a kiss on my lips that was, despite its fleeting duration, was nonetheless deep and passionate. He pulled away, his grin even wider. "I am now."

I pulled away and peeked out of the sheet covering the door. I could barely see the fence along the side of the motel that went on for a yard or so after the building stopped and then turned straight back, fencing in most of the area around the motel as well. Behind it were overgrown trees and bushes, behind which I could see the bright red of Carl's shirt.

He stepped a bit too close to the fence and I'm guessing he stepped on a branch or something because immediately, two things happened. A walker a bit close to them snapped his attention up to where the rest of the camp was hiding as well, and I could see clearly a thin, feminine hand (Lori's most likely) flatten out against the red fabric of Carl's shirt and pull him back until only green was visible. But the walker wasn't having that. It was slowly sneaking closer to inspect.

"We're up," I said urgently, turning back to Daryl.

He nodded.

"I love you, Daryl Dixon," I said, readying myself.

"I love ya, too, Kaiya Caston," he didn't sound worried at all considering what we were about to do and for some reason, his words made me feel the same easy confidence in our possible success.

That emotion quickly evaporated, though, when I looked outside once more and saw the walker still snooping around the fence. "Lets do this," I said grimly, grabbing the door handle and pulling it toward me so no walkers could get in until we wanted them to.

Daryl did the same beside me and we both started banging on the doors and walls and yelling at the walkers on the other side. I could hear a few of the walkers moan in interest at the odd noises coming from behind the covered door, but it wasn't nearly enough, so I quickly released the handle just long enough to rip the sheets down and attract the attention of the rest of the walker crowd.

I felt the bottom of my stomach drop out as the soulless, empty eyes of the walkers lifted to meet mine and Daryl's. I grabbed the door handle again and looked over at Daryl. He was staring with determined anger at the beasts in question. The fear I felt at the prospect of losing him made my insides turn to ice. I could handle dying. As long as Daryl lived.

He felt my eyes on him and glanced at me. "What?" he asked, readjusting his grip on his door.

"Don't die, Daryl."

He looked up at me, seemingly shocked. He looked like he was going to say something, but he closed his mouth when the first walker started to bang on the door.

We both pulled the doors, trying to keep the walkers out. There had to be at least 30 walkers pulling on just my door alone. Or at least that's what my teddy-bear muscles were telling me.

I gritted my teeth against the burn in my nearly non-existent bicep and panted, "Are they there yet?" I couldn't see over the head of the walkers (damn height) and I was afraid, for some reason, that if I removed my concentrated eyes from the door, the walkers would somehow get stronger and rip the door (and me) open.

"Not yet," Daryl grunted, yanking back on the door.

"Well they better fucking hurry, or my arm is going to fall off," I panted.

"Almost there," Daryl said as a crack began to form in my door.

I yelped and tried to hold onto the door tighter, but my hands were sweating and making it slippery. The walker in front banged his head against the door, making the crack grow bigger. "Daryl," I said, trying to alert him to the danger.

"There! Let go!"

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as I released my hold on the door handle and turned, letting Daryl grab my hand in his own. We sprinted as fast as we could down the hall.

I was hypersensitive to everything around me. The sound of glass breaking and some screeches of undead nails on the still-intact glass rang loudly in my ears. As did the labored and hungry panting of the walkers, groaning and grunting excitedly behind us as they ran on their torn up legs. The stench of death, rot, and decay filled the hall almost instantly after the walkers entered.

I kept my eyes trained ahead, but decided about halfway down the hall that it couldn't hurt to turn and blast one of their heads open. I twisted my head around, my hair flying around me as I took my hand from Daryl's and aimed my rifle at the closest one's head and shot.

We continued running, turning down the corner to the back door, walkers hot on our trail. Daryl kicked the door open as I shot at another one. He grabbed my wrist and tugged me out of the door with him. We ran around the side of the building and started to hop the fence when we saw that there were even more walkers than we thought.

There was an even bigger crowd than the one chasing us surrounding the caravan. They had no choice but to start up the cars and drive away. If they didn't every one of us died. This way, only me and Daryl did.

Daryl didn't seem ready to accept that, though. As they cars started up and the walkers came out of the building, he pulled me with him into the brush and trees and we ran,, weaving in and out of trees until we came to the fence. We both jumped it pretty easily.

It would probably hinder most of the walkers who only had basic motor skills to match their broken legs. Most of them. As I thought, about five of them were able to easily make it over and chase after us. I glance hurriedly behind us, immediately looking back ahead so I didn't run headlong into a tree.

"Come on," Daryl grunted, squeezing my hand.

I picked up my speed, ignoring the branches that tore at my skin and the fabric over my shoulders. I tripped over a rock, but Daryl quickly grabbed my elbow with his other hand, so I never really hit the ground all the way. But it was enough to scrape my knee on the hard, dirty ground. "Shit," I swore, straightening up again.

Daryl lifted his arm behind him to point his pistol at one of the closer walkers. We ran for a long time until finally, my lungs felt like they were going to explode.

I slowed up. "Daryl," I gasped. "I- cant."

He kept his hold on my hand and turned to me, trying to keep me at least jogging. "Kaiya, come on, ya gotta. Ya cant just give up."

I looked up into his blue eyes, something in them somehow tapping into my last reserves of strength. My legs pumped faster, my lungs still protesting furiously, but the pain was less noticeable now.

I looked back again; the sound of walkers moaning was getting quieter. Only 2 were behind us now. The others were much farther off and appeared to have either forgotten us or lost interest in what they couldn't catch. These two were persistent, however.

Daryl stopped and quickly pulled his crossbow off of his back. It must've already been cocked because he didn't waste a second pulling the trigger and sending an arrow through the brain of the one on the right.

The other, he walked toward, slinging the butt of his crossbow up into its jaw, knocking its head back a bit. As it stumbled, lifted a booted foot and kicked its onto its back, stomping on its head repeatedly until it stopped twitching and an effective amount of blood was pooled on the ground beneath its head (now turned mush).

I gasped and bent over, resting my hands on my knees as I tried to focus. I gave up on unburying the image before my eyes and closed them instead.

"C'mon, we cant stay around here for long," Daryl said, looking warily around us.

I nodded, noting that he too was breathing heavily, and took his offered hand as we walked further.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! :D Review! **


	8. Loganville

DARYL'S POV:

I took her hand again and led her through the trees, searching frantically for anything that could help us. A moving vehicle, one of our vehicles, a house devoid of walkers. Kaiya was losing her breath easily and I suspected that her ribs were still giving her trouble, but I knew she was too proud to confess to it. We had to find somewhere to hunker down fast.

I turned to her and put my hands on her shoulders, looking all around to make sure there were no walkers around. "Stay here, alright? I'm gonna look around up ahead," I said, sounding breathless in my own ears.

She nodded, still breathing hard.

I gave her a quick kiss and helped her lower herself down to lean against a tree. After double checking to make sure she had her gun, I walked away, searching high and low through the foliage. Eventually, I found a road.

"Gotta lead somewhere," I muttered to myself. I turned back around to go find Kaiya.

It had only taken about five minutes to get there from where I had started, so the walk back to Kaiya's tree wasn't very long.

She looked like hell, her long black hair sticking out in wild, dirty strands, dirt and sweat covering her pale face. She was looking even thinner than usual and her breath was coming fast, her eyes closed in pain as her erratic breathing caused the injuries on her ribs to act out.

"Kaiya," I said, kneeling down to her and brushing some of the hair out of her face. "I found a road. If we can follow it, it'll lead to some kinda town and we'll at least know where we're at. We can find out where we're goin' from there."

She nodded quickly and squished her eyes shut as she used my shoulder to push herself up from her seat on the dirt.

The air wasn't hot like it used to be, but that was a good thing. It was a bit breezy, only the slightest bit chilly.

Kaiya was breathing heavily as we walked along the trees and then came out onto the road I had found earlier. I took her arm and put it around the back of my shoulders and leaned down, wrapping my arm around her side, trying to help her walk.

"Distract me, please," she gasped, her eyes looking very heavily-lidded.

"How?" I asked, my voice wavering slightly with worry for her condition.

She took a few breaths before saying, "Tell me about when you were younger."

I didn't want to keep her talking as it was obviously causing her pain, but it seemed the best way to make sure she didn't pass out on her feet. "How old?"

She shrugged lightly. "My age."

I chuckled, my lungs still halfway exploding from that ridiculous sprint. "I was a bad kid. I was livin' in my dad's trailer, but he was hardly ever there. He was always gone, but that was a good thing, we didn't get along much. Merle was barely ever there either, constantly out tryin' to get high, drunk, or fuck hookers."

She let out a breathy laugh. "Kinda like he is now?"

I laughed. "Yeah, he's purty much always been like he is."

She shook her head. "I didn't mean for you to tell me about your family. I meant you."

I sighed. "I was pretty much like I am now, too. Mean as hell, and-"

"And a zombie-hunting jerk-face?" Her words were becoming slurred with exhaustion.

I rolled my eyes, a slight smirk on my face. "Well I always was, but I didn't know it till recently."

She smiled.

"I'm not sure what ya want me to tell ya really, but uh… When I was yer age, I still had this teddy bear named Tummy."

She gave me a comically confused look. "Tummy?"

I raised a brow. "Tummy. The name o' the teddy bear. That's the part yer surprised about? Not the fact that Daryl Dixon had a teddy bear as a teenager?"

"Explain both," she said, turning her head to continue watching the road we were traveling along.

I glanced down at the pavement. "My mom gave him to me when I was a baby. I named him Tummy 'cause that was the only word I knew when I was little."

"Tell me about him." Her words were becoming quieter and quieter, and her eyes were slipping closed.

I looked ahead at the sky as I brought back the image of that old stuffed thing my dad had thrown away when I was older. "He had light brown fur, and black eyes and a black nose. He was wearin' these blue jean overalls and his paws had string separatin' the fingers."

She started mumbling a bunch of random words. "Teddy… Tummy… Daryl-bear."

I gave her a funny look, but she wasn't looking at me. "Anyway, my dad found out I still had him and threw him out."

"Douche bag," she whispered, beginning to loose her balance.

I caught her before she could collapse. I looked around us, squinting into the distance at a billboard up the hill. "Loganville. Kaiya, we're in Loganville."

Her eyes opened wide for two seconds as she said, "Loganville," and then they reduced to her original droopy-eyed stare. "I know Loganville. Great grandma lives there. And KK. Right, Donkey?"

I felt a pang of guilt at the mention of her dog. She was getting loopier and loopier. Lack of food as well as all of her energy put into running away from those walkers and the renewed pain in her ribs was making her imagine things. But we needed to find somewhere to stay and we needed to find it quick.

Before I asked her about where her great grandma lived, I decided we should look for a car. We needed a quick mode of transportation or Kaiya was going to keel over right in the middle of the street. So I continued walking, Kaiya stumbling along in my arms. The town quickly came into view.

"Carol and Sophia used to live here," Kaiya rambled, her head lolling. "Before all the walkers and whatnot."

I could feel her body beginning to droop, so I lifted her up and into my arms, carrying her.

She pecked my cheek. "Thanks, Daryl-bear."

I rolled my eyes. And I thought she was weird before.

Soon she was snoring against my shoulder.

I quickly found a car on the edge of town away from any walkers and, thankful that it was unlocked, slid Kaiya into the passenger's seat. I hot-wired the car and backed up, heading away. I didn't know where I was going, though. I hated to wake her when I knew she needed sleep, but I figured shelter was a priority. I pulled the car off on the side of the road a little ways away from the edge of the town and reached over, gently shaking her shoulder.

She didn't jerk or open her eyes, she just mumbled, "Hmm?"

"Can ya tell me where yer great grandma's house is?"

She nodded and, peeking an eye open to look at our surroundings, recited, "Keep going. Turn left at the next fork. Follow that until you come to a blue mailbox that says Kennedy. Turn in there and keep going until you get to the house." Then she yawned and was asleep again in seconds.

I nodded to myself and continued on down the road, thinking about what the others in the group might be doing. They were probably far away from here by now. I shook my head. I had to stop worrying about where the rest of the group was and get Kaiya somewhere safe.

After turning left, I followed the old dirt road for what must've been at least fifteen miles before coming to a blue mailbox with Kennedy written in black on the side.

"Here we go," I muttered, turning into the driveway.

It was probably two miles long. Just the driveway.

As we drove, I saw a small pond with clear blue water and a small dock on the side. In wood, there was a platform beside the pond and on it, were a few benches and a railing edging the parts exposed to water. There was a pump and a well not far from it.

In the distance on the other side of the driveway, there were stables and around seven horses trotting around through the field.

"This place is damn near perfect."

When we reached the house, I was completely surprised. I had expected a tiny farm house falling down and oozing health hazards to match the rest of the farm, but it was a nice, big wooden house, with a garage bigger than my house.

There was a wooden partition in the middle of the open wall, separating the two parking spaces in the garage. There were two cars already inside, one a simple tan car, the other a black sports car. Beyond them was a door leading to the back part of the garage.

I parked off to the side of the widened gravel and dirt driveway and shut the car off. I got out of the car and walked around to Kaiya's side, noting the goat pen just in front of the front yard and the garden still thriving in the backyard near an old tin shed. I lifted Kaiya out of the car and began walking up to the door on the side of the house facing us.

On the concrete side-porch were a few green plastic chairs and some potted plants to the side.

I opened the door and peeked inside. It looked like some kind of a laundry room. There was a fridge on my right and two big, square freezers on the left. The doorway was covered with a hanging straw curtain that connected with a line of magnets on the inside of each part.

"Kaiya, we're here," I whispered to her, walking through the curtain and into a fancily decorated kitchen/dining area.

There was a hallway to the direct right of the curtained walkway. Beside that hallway was a stone fireplace and a sofa and loveseat facing it, with a table right in front of them. In the kitchen was a wooden island, covered with the same dark marble that covered the counters against the walls. Another fridge, stainless steel probably, was against the wall beside the walkway to the living room.

"What did these people do for a living?" I mumbled.

"KK was a lawyer," Kaiya mumbled, trying to get out of my arms and stand up on her own.

I set her down and let her walk around a little bit.

She grabbed my hand and tugged me through the lushly furnished living room and into a large room with an outrageously sized bathroom and an even bigger closet. "I'm gonna sleep for a while, 'kay?"

I smiled and laid down on the bed with her, letting her curl up on my chest until she passed out again. It didn't take long before I was sleeping peacefully as well.

* * *

**I'M BACK! :D Who missed me? :P Anyway, I've written a lot since the last time I updated this story, but I'm not sure if I want to keep it going in the direction I set or wait for a little longer before I do what i was thinking I was going to do. That sounded confusing. Ignore that. Okay, Review please! Thanks for reading and staying loyal! I love you all! :) **


	9. Innocence

GLENN'S POV:

"Where did they go?" I asked, frantically searching the desolate faces of the other campers.

Nobody seemed to have seen where they had gone after they got out of the motel.

"The last I saw, they were headed into the woods with a group of walkers on their tail," Andrea said, biting her lip in worry.

"Why is it always Kaiya?" I groaned, running my hands down my face.

"Hey, they'll be okay," Rick reasoned, placing a firm hand on my shoulder. "Kaiya knows how to take care of herself and Daryl does, too. I'd say they're the most qualified to be on their own in all this. And," he leaned close and whispered, "I'm more worried about us right now than them. They were our main sense of security, and Daryl was the reason we had food."

I looked around at everyone grimly. They were all looking thin and pale after the drastic change in our daily diets when the walkers turned up.

After we had made it to the vehicles out of the motel, we had no choice but to leave. If we had lingered any longer, the walkers would have gotten all of us. It seemed like Kaiya and Daryl had seen that as well; they hadn't even attempted to make a run for our swamped cars. After driving high speed for half the day, we had all stopped on the side of the road and were thinking up a plan of attack.

But seriously, why the hell did this always happened to Kaiya? This was probably the third time she had gotten lost. At least this time, she wasn't alone.

"So where are we going?" I asked quietly.

"First, where the hell are we?" Merle asked, looking around us. He seemed to be more levelheaded nowadays. Which was odd.

I looked around us, finding something vaguely familiar about it.

"We're close to Loganville," Carol said, drawing Sophia closer to her. "We used to live there."

"So where do we go?" Shane asked.

"I'm pretty sure I was here with Kaiya a long time ago. When we went to her great grandma's house. That's it!" I snapped and looked back at Rick. "Her great grandma's house. It would be a perfect place for us hole up. They run on their own electricity generators, they have goats and horses, chickens, cows, and a giant garden, and they pump their own water. And if Kaiya knows that she went in the direction of Loganville, she'll end up dragging Daryl there by his hair. So we might meet up with them there."

"And if its overrun?" Dale asked skeptically.

"I don't think that's gonna be a problem. Its too far out. Fifteen, twenty miles away from any towns, the driveway alone is a couple miles long, and their only neighbors live in the next town. Its highly unlikely that any walkers found it."

Rick nodded. "Well then, lets try to get as far as we can today. We should get there in a few days."

We loaded up and headed out.

I missed the quarry, watching Kaiya and Amy giggle and watch Daryl from across camp, helping Dale keep lookout on top of the RV, being able to just walk down to the water not so far from our camp. Sure walkers had been all over, but it was a beautiful place and we had all been perfectly comfortable there.

I was heading off the caravan now since I knew the way to Kaiya's great grandma's. We had only gotten a few minutes into the ride when a figure emerged from the trees lining the road.

I quickly stopped, forcing brakes to squeal behind me. But this woman looked familiar. I stepped out of Kaiya's truck and walked around to where the girl was shaking furiously.

"Maggie?"

KAIYA'S POV:

I woke up about midday with a yawn and a groan as the action made my sore ribs sting. I sucked in sharply.

"Ribs?" Daryl asked, resting a hand lightly over them.

I looked up at him and nodded.

He grabbed one of the bags we still had with us and looked through it until he found some aspirin and a roll of bandaging. "Take yer shirt off and take this."

I did as I was told. Its not like Daryl hasn't seen me with my shirt off, I reasoned when my cheeks turned red.

He began taking the old bandage off, rolling it up and tossing it into the plastic trash can in the corner of the room.

I swallowed down the pills and lifted my arms so he could start wrapping me up. "How long have I been out?" I asked, my voice thick with sleep.

He shrugged. "Two hours, maybe more."

No wonder. It didn't feel like it had been near enough.

He clipped the bandage together and then pulled me into his lap. He cradled my head in his arm and smoothed my hair down. "Ya alright?" he asked, sounding worried.

I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Ya were actin' kinda weird earlier. Ya were callin' me Daryl-bear."

I giggled. "Well, I'm fine now." I lifted my face to his and kissed him.

"Good," he said, grinning at me.

"You know," I said slowly, pulling out of his arms and leaning back on the big, fluffy bed. "We've got this whole house to ourselves. No one around, living or otherwise, for miles." I looked back up at him to see him smirking, but there was an uncertainty in his eyes.

"Ya sure?"

I nodded, face completely on fire. "I'm one hundred percent sure. Why? Do you not want to-"

"No! No, I do. Its just… I don't wanna, ya know, take yer innocence er whatever." He made a face like he wasn't sure he was using the correct phrase.

I chuckled. "I'm a child at heart, I will always be innocent. Besides, I think somebody beat you to that. I'm not a virgin anymore, technically," I muttered, frowning.

He scowled darkly. "Ya were raped. Ya had no choice in it. I don't think that should count."

I leaned forward and took his hand. "Well then let me make the choice now. You're the only one I would want to," I paused and smirked at him. "'take my innocence'."

He grinned slyly and nodded. "Alright. But we're doin' this right," he warned, holding a finger up.

"And what exactly does that entail?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"We're waitin' till night and I gotta make sure everything's perfect." He leaned over and kissed my forehead.

"Well, look at you, Mr. Dixon. Making sure that a teenager's 'first time' is absolutely perfect. It'll be perfect no matter what. You'll be there, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Duh."

"Perfect no matter what," I assured him, nodding. I had to admit that I was pretty nervous.

My hands shook all day while I fed the goats and he explored the house, looking around for any hint of weapons. I was pretty sure my great grandma wasn't packing any kind of heat, but KK might have. KK was my great aunt, Karen. After a thorough search of the house, Daryl went to take care of the horses. I scattered chicken feed across the floor of their coop, and made sure the cows were okay.

I explained to him that we had electricity due to the generators.

When nighttime came, Daryl had been inside and instructed me not to come into the room until he said it was okay. I locked up the doors and looked around for something to eat. There was some dry fruit in a bag sitting on the counter, so I munched on dried apricots, unable to really eat while I was so nervous. My heart was pounding in my ears and my hands were shaking even worse than before.

Daryl walked out of the hallway to the room, in the same clothes he had worn all day, a light blue button-up with the sleeves torn off (go figure) and a pair of blue jeans. He grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall into the room. Before opening the door, he turned back to me, his blue eyes shining in the dark. "Yer shakin'. Don't be nervous."

"Easy for you to say," I grumbled. "You've done this before."

He pressed his lips to my hair and whispered, "Shh," as he pushed the door open. The lights were off and candles were placed all around the room, lighting up the dark.

My breath caught and I took a step into the room, Daryl's hand still around mine.

"Ya like it?"

I nodded and looked back at him with a smile. "Who are you and what have you done with Daryl Dixon?"

He just furrowed his brow at me.

"You are like all hard-ass redneck and now you're all… you know, sweet and perfect and everything."

He tugged me closer and held me tight. "Don't talk anymore," he whispered, lifting me up and carrying me to the bed.

* * *

**O.O Good gawd. So, a bit of sweet cheesiness from Mr. Dixon, but you cant honestly tell me you don't wish he would do that for you :P So anyway, review and lemme know if you like it. Thanks for reading! :D **


	10. First Impressions

KAIYA'S POV:

I sighed and stretched my muscles, completely content with life as it was in that moment. Daryl trailed his finger along my bare shoulder.

"I love you, Daryl," I whispered, looking up into his deep blue eyes, and once again marveling at their beauty. How did a rugged hunter (not that he wasn't ridiculously gorgeous) end up with eyes like a angel?

He kissed the tip of my nose and grinned at me. "I love ya, too."

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked, moving farther up the bed so I could look him in the eyes without having to craning my neck.

"Yeah, I guess," he allowed warily. I was almost insulted by his caution, but then again, I had been known to be a bit unpredictable.

"What was your first impression of me?"

He lost the guarded expression and sighed.

I sensed a story, so I settled in under his arm again as he started to retell the night I remembered well.

DARYL'S POV:

_Merle sped up the road, going faster and faster toward the lanes of long-stagnant vehicles. Neither of us said a word; there wasn't much to say. He came to a stop behind the tall back end of a large black truck. _

_From the truck hopped a very short person - from the long hair, I would guess it was a girl - and on the passenger's side, a short (though as short as his companion), skinny kid in a baseball hat. The kid in the baseball hat came around the back end of the truck to lean against the side with the shorter figure. _

_We were only able to go a few minutes of silence before Merle laid on the horn and shouted up ahead, "Hey! Let's git a move on!" _

_I rolled my eyes, but said nothing. Without anything needing to be said between us, we both stepped out of the truck, walking forward, past the kid in the baseball hat and the short girl. _

_I leaned against the abandoned car beside them as Merle went farther ahead of them to yell at the cars further up. _

_Now I could see that the girl was fairly mature-looking, a hardened face with intelligent eyes and fluid actions that insinuated a responsibility to the boy beside her that went deeper than I could've imagined. But she couldn't have been taller than 5'4. Her raven-black hair reached all the way down her back, even pulled up into a high ponytail as it was now. _

_The boy beside her was taller, but kind of scrawny, his eyes slanted and almond-shaped, hinting at Asian orientation. His arm was draped over the girl, both of them carefully avoiding mine and Merle's gazes. _

"_Hey, what's th' hold up?" Merle shouted ahead._

_"Everyone wants to get out of this hellhole," the girl spoke, not seeming to have conscious control of it. Her voice was young, but innocent, high and sweet. Her blush proved my suspicions correct when she put on a grimace that clearly said she wished she hadn't said anything. _

_The boy dropped his arm from her shoulders, seeming to stand in between us with an action that seemed out of instinct more than will (though he definitely seemed to be debating whether we would be any threat to the girl). _

_She seemed to quickly assess us, her eyes sliding over us swiftly. _

_Merle, too, was gauging this girl, trying to decide what the best approach would be. Merle held his hand out. "Merle Dixon." _

_The girl met his gaze confidently, unwavering and fearless, as she shook his hand. "Kaiya Caston." _

_One of my eyebrows shot up as Merle snorted. "Wha' kinda name is tha'?" _

_She cocked a brow back at him, challenging him with a cool look. "What kinda name is Merle?" _

_Merle surprised me by shrugging at her as if it was a moot point. Merle wasn't one to sit their and let anything about him be judged by a stranger. Even a cute girl. He turned back to me and patted my shoulder. "This here's my baby brother Daryl." _

_I nodded at the girl, noting the blush across her cheeks, making the freckles over her nose a bit more pronounced. I was surprised I could see them at all in the dim light provided by the many headlights around us. _

_She nodded back to the boy in the baseball hat. "That's Glenn." _

_Merle grimaced as soon as he realized the kid's race, but I decided I was being nice today and nodded at him in greeting. _

_The wind gusted past us and I noticed that Kaiya girl shiver and reach up to pull the band out of her hair. I was startled by the length as well as the thickness of all the hair that tumbled down out of her hands and cascaded down her back. _

"_Awful lotta hair," I murmured, surprise forcing the words out. _

_She looked over at me as she ran her fingers through her hair and nodded in acknowledgement. _

"_Yer awfully short, ain'tcha?" Merle asked, her height making it necessary for him to look downward when he spoke to her. _

_She looked up at him and shrugged. "I guess so." _

"_Not much of a talker, huh?" Merle grumbled, turning to look back at where the other cars were making no progress. _

_I tried not to, but while Merle and that Glenn kid were looking up ahead, I felt my gaze drawn to Kaiya again and again, watching her frown at the ground. _

_Merle, of course, had to be the one to break the silence. And of course, he had to do it with an awkward question. "You two some kinda interracial couple or sumthin'?" _

_I resisted the urge to groan and roll my eyes at his intrusive behavior, but kept quiet, slightly intrigued by what their answer might be. _

_They blushed and looked around then both began refusing vehemently. Although with half-heard mumbles. "No, we've been best friends since he could walk," she answered after the string of unintelligible mutterings. _

_Merle and I both gave her looks of confusion. The way she worded it sounded funny. "Whatcha mean since _he _could walk? You couldn't walk when ya was his age?" Merle asked, nosing around again. _

"_I could when I was his age," she allowed. "But we're not the same age." _

"_Whatcha mean?" I asked, still confused by her strange phrasing. _

"_He's 20, I'm 16." _

_16. I felt a hope I hadn't realized had been there get crushed. Oh well. _

_Merle looked like the wind had been knocked out of him. "16?!" Merle asked loudly. _

_She nodded, confused by our behavior. _

"_Well, damn…" Merle grumbled. _

_When she realized she wasn't going to figure out what was going on in our heads, she shrugged and turned to stand up on the step inside the door of the truck behind her, peeking into the backseat. _

"_He still asleep?" Glenn asked. _

_She nodded and hopped down. _

"_Got a kid in thur?" Merle asked. "Ya some kinda teen mom er sumthin'?" _

_What was with him tonight? _

_Kaiya just shook her head and smiled like she thought his assumption was funny. "No it's a dog." _

_A moment later, screams erupted from further on down the road. I jumped up from leaning against the car and stood straight along with the others, tense and ready to run. _

_Kaiya walked around the front of her truck and looked to her right, out over the city of Atlanta. I could barely see the side of her shell-shocked face when the explosions started. _

"_They're droppin' napalm in the streets!" came a booming male voice. He had a woman and a boy with him,both getting into the car he was about to get into. But he caught sight of our little group before he did. He ran over and introduced himself. "I'm officer Shane Walsh. I don't know what's goin' on, but we gotta get outta here. You can follow me." Without another word, he ran back to his car and got in, quickly starting it up. _

"_You think we can trust him?" Glenn asked, his voice high with anxiety. _

"_Never was one for trustin' pigs," Merle said, begrudgingly answering a chinaman. _

"_Do we have a choice?" Kaiya asked exasperatedly, opening the drivers side door and hopping up into the truck. _

"_That's YOUR truck?!" Merle shouted, surprised all over at this girl. _

_She rolled her eyes, but the humor wasn't present on her face. She was tense and worried and anxious. "Can we please talk about this later?" Then she shut the door and started her truck up. _

_I had to admit as I got into my truck that Kaiya was an awfully strange girl. But she was a good strange._

* * *

**Randomness chapter! Thanks for reading! Review! :D **


	11. Broken

GLENN'S POV:

"Are you alright?" I asked, jogging forward to catch her before she fell to the pavement.

Her face was tear-streaked and her shoulders shook fiercely. But she managed to shake her head. "No. Oh, God, Glenn, they're dead. All of them! They're all just gone!"

Herschel and his family. All of them were dead? All but Maggie. At least that much was intact.

I wrapped my arms around her as a few of the other got out of their vehicles behind me.

"What's going on?" Rick asked, a gun gripped tightly in his hand. When he caught sight of Maggie, trembling and sobbing in my arms, he nodded in understanding, a look of disgust for those creatures on his face as he turned back to the others. "Bring her with us," he instructed over his shoulder to me.

I nodded and tried to haul her up to her feet. "Come on Maggie. We've gotta go. Come on." I finally managed to get her strapped into the passenger's side of Kaiya's truck.

She was still sobbing against the window when we pulled off to the side of the road nearly an hour later.

"We should probably make camp now," Rick said, staring up at the horizon.

Maggie was still sitting in the truck, though the rest of us were standing outside, conferring in low voices. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her torso and her body heaved with her sobs, though she had run out of tears long ago.

Shane, who was sitting beside me, noticed my worried glance toward her and clapped a hand on my shoulder, nodding his head toward her.

"You sure?" I asked quietly while everyone else started preparing to set up camp for the night.

He nodded serenely. "We got it out here, man."

"Thanks," I said, perplexed at his sudden sympathy. "Shane."

He nodded once more and stood from the bumper of the Cherokee. That had been odd.

I shook off the strange sense of camaraderie between Shane and I and made my way back toward the truck, silently climbing into the driver's seat again.

I knew that no amount of words - no matter the meaning behind them, the order they were put in, or the sincerity with which they were delivered - could make any of this better. So I just took her hand, entwining our fingers, and letting my own tears slide.

Tears for my father. Tears for the mother that had died before any of this hit (possibly the luckiest of all of us). Tears for the sister that kept disappearing.

Maggie looked up at me, her sobs quieted for the moment.

The amount of pain in both of our eyes was enough to break the heart of… well, maybe not Merle, but someone nearly as tough as him.

After a reticent moment of simply staring into each other's tormented eyes, she jerked forward and threw her arms around my neck, our sobs mingling as I clutched her tighter to myself.

I didn't care that our brief relationship had come to an end quicker than either of us thought possible. I didn't care that we were in the middle of hell on earth.

My sister was gone, my parents were dead, and every day I got closer to the worst death imaginable. I wasn't letting go of Maggie ever again. She was the only thing I had left. At least until Kaiya got back.

But even then, I wasn't letting this poor, heartbroken girl out of my sight. We had both lost people. We had both shared this moment of ultimate vulnerability. This was no longer the kind of bond you walked away from. Not anymore.

SHANE'S POV:

I watched Glenn walk over to Maggie and was nostalgically (and more than a little wistfully) reminded of when that had been me comforting Lori.

My eyes reflexively shot toward her, but her back was to me, her long brown hair waving down her back. I frowned to myself.

"When are we killin' yer pal?" Merle's voice asked beside me.

I didn't take my eyes from Lori, who was now ruffling Carl's hair. I wasn't worried about anyone overhearing; everyone was running around the edge of things, gathering wood for a small fire, setting out blankets and food. "A soon as possible."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his nod. He walked away without another word.

I grimaced when Rick walked toward Lori and Carl and Carl's face immediately lit up. They would be mine again.

_Be patient, _I told myself, regulating my breathing. _Everything will be like it should be soon enough._

* * *

**So I think this site is messed up or something. My email is still alerting me every time I get a new review, but its not showing up on the actual story. Its a bit lame. Oh well. Thanks for reading and review! :D **


	12. Cowboy

KAIYA'S POV:

It was inevitable, but still a glum occurrence. I tried not to be sad, but I knew this would happen. Eventually I would have to disentangle myself from Daryl and start doing something productive. The fact that I understood this didn't mean I had to like it.

I frowned as I started sifting through the cabinets of food, surprised to find that their refrigerators were still on. So the generators had been running this whole time. Oh well. Most of the stuff in the fridge was still good, but I still had to throw out quite a few of the items inside. I was happy to find that my great grandmother had kept up her hobby of making her own preserves.

Daryl was outside, tending to the animals.

I ventured outside and saw him riding around on one of the horses. I jogged over to the fence and hopped up, leaning on the top with my feet on the second bar from the bottom. Stupid short height.

Daryl saw me and managed to make it looked like he and his horse were sauntering over.

I stared appreciatively at the way the sun glinted off the tanned skin of his arms, but then appraised his steed. A beautiful golden palomino. Male by the looks of it. When he was within easy hearing distance, I said, "Well aren't you cute?"

He gave me a cocky, sexy smirk, his eyes dark but somehow still luminescent in their blueness.

"Don't flatter yourself cowboy," I said, grinning at him. "I was talking to your horse."

He grimaced at me, but nudged his horse a little closer to the fence and leaned down to peck me softly on the lips.

I groaned when he pulled back.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Why do you have to be so damn cute?"

He looked slightly surprised, but looked pleased with himself afterward. He held his hand down to me.

I read his intentions in his eyes and smiled at him. He smirked conspiratorially back at me.

I moved my feet up another two bars and took his hand, jumping onto the horse behind him and wrapping my arms around his stomach. He chuckled. "Hold on."

Then the horse took off. I squeezed my arms around him tighter, burying my face in his back. We must've made a full sprint around the edge of the fence at least once before he slowed the horse to a slow trot.

Daryl patted my arm around his waist and turned his head slightly to grin at me.

"Is it my turn to drive yet?" I grumbled.

He snorted and rolled his eyes, but allowed me to scoot forward and take the reins. He held my stomach lightly, his hand warm even through my shirt. I tried not to let him feel the way his touch made me shiver, but I was sure I failed.

It was a little hard to concentrate on where I was going with the horse because every time it seemed I had regained a little bit of my awareness, Daryl felt the need to muddle my brain by trailing slow kisses up and down the side of my neck.

"Do you really have to do that? Its extremely distracting," I asked, but my voice cracked, destroying any assurance that I really wanted him to stop.

"Is it?" he breathed against my skin and then planted another one.

"Mhm," I squeaked.

He chuckled.

"Screw this," I finally said. "Put the horse up and meet me inside." I pulled my leg off and started to run for the fence (thank God we had ended up close to the house in the end), Daryl's chuckles following me.

He must've been awfully impatient as well, because I could hear the horse's hooves take off for the stables faster than we had even gone before.

I waited inside until he showed up and practically launched myself at him, pressing my lips to any surface of his body readily available. He was just as eager.

In times like that, it was easy to forget that we were in the middle of hell.

GLENN'S POV:

Two days after the incident at the motel, we made it to Kaiya's great grandma's place. My heart beat faster when I saw the familiar mailbox with "Kennedy" written on the side. Would they be here? Or had they gone somewhere else? Or-

"What the-?" Maggie murmured, looking out to the fields on our right where the horses usually went.

Two horses now trotted around, their riders easily recognizable. Daryl, his sleeveless shirt halfway opened was on a palomino with a bright coat. Kaiya, her long hair lifted all around her by the cold breeze was seated atop a young paint.

I grinned widely, a sense of relief washing over me. I hadn't realized that I had already let go of any hope that we would find them. It was stupid to have imagined that two such people as Daryl Dixon and Kaiya Caston working together could be killed in any way, form, or fashion, but I also didn't trust my luck enough to believe that I would find Kaiya. _Again._

Her face lit up when she saw me in her truck and she turned the horse around and snapped the reins, seemingly trying to race us up to the house. I hit the gas, trying my hardest to avoid the holes in the uneven gravel driveway. She rode her horse into the stables, but came sprinting out while I was getting out of the truck.

She slammed into my body, knocking the breath from me and flinging her arms around my neck. I squeezed her against me as tightly as I could.

Over her shoulder I could see Daryl coming out at a much slower pace, his shirt now buttoned correctly and a calculating look in his eyes. I tried not to linger too long on what Daryl's shirt would be doing screwed up like that with only him and Kaiya up here.

Over my shoulder, I'm guessing Kaiya saw the others pulling up in their cars. She pulled out of my embrace and ran behind me, straight into the arms of Andrea and Dale.

Rather than meet Daryl's gaze, I went around to the other side of the truck and helped Maggie out.

Kaiya had already made it around to hug everyone when she came back and saw that Maggie was with us. Her eyes widened at her condition. "Oh, my god, Maggie!" Kaiya exclaimed, pulling her in for a hug as well.

To my surprise, Maggie reacted immediately, wrapping her arms around Kaiya, too. Had they had some sort of secret friendship on the Greene farm that I had been unaware of?

"Are you alright?" Kaiya asked quietly, pulling back but keeping a supporting her with one arm.

Maggie nodded weakly, her pale, drawn face turning a bit green.

"Come on inside. Glenn get the others to come in." She took off with my girlfriend in tow, both of them acting as if they had been best friends.

I shook my head in wonder at them.

I hadn't noticed Daryl standing right beside me, staring after them as well, but there was a different look in his eyes. Despite the emotion I couldn't quite place, he said something I could not have agreed with more. "Chicks are weird."

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**Please, please, please review! Thanks for reading! :D **


	13. Reunited

GLENN'S POV:

Two days after the incident at the motel, we made it to Kaiya's great grandma's place. My heart beat raced when I saw the familiar blue mailbox with "Kennedy" written on the side. What if they weren't here? What if they had gone somewhere else? What if they-

"Hey," Maggie murmured, looking out over the field to our right, where the horses usually were when they weren't in the stables.

Two horses were out. Two easily recognizable figures were on them. Daryl, his sleeveless shirt half undone, was on a honey-colored palomino. Kaiya, her long hair lifted in the cold breeze, was seated atop a young paint.

A wave of relief washed over me. I hadn't realized that I had been doubting our success in finding them. I had subconsciously let go of any hope that they were still alive. It was stupid to believe that two such people as Daryl Dixon and Kaiya Caston together would be killed in any way form or fashion. But I hadn't trusted my luck enough to believe that I would catch another break and find her _again._

Her face lit up when she recognized all of the cars of the caravan. She turned her horse around and snapped the reins, racing us back to the top of the driveway.

I quickly punched the gas, avoiding the more uneven spots in the gravel driveway as best as I could.

Kaiya beat me, and was already running out of the stables toward me when I jumped down from the truck. She slammed into me, her arms spread wide, knocking the breath out of me.

I squeezed her to me, letting out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. Over her shoulder, I could see Daryl walking slowly out of the stables, his shirt now done right and a calculating look in his eyes. I tried not linger on why his shirt might have been like that with only him and Kaiya out here.

Over my shoulder, she could see the others starting to get out of their cars. She released me and ran to Andrea and Dale then went around to assess everyone and hug them.

Rather than meet Daryl's gaze, I walked around to the other side of the truck and helped Maggie out.

Kaiya was coming over to us when she realized someone else was with us. Her face showed her concern. "Oh, Maggie!" She rushed forward and hugged her tightly. Had they done some bonding back on the Greene farm that I had been unaware of?

To my surprise, Maggie let out a sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around Kaiya.

Kaiya patted Maggie's back and said, "Are you alright?"

Maggie pulled back and nodded, her pale, drawn face looking a bit green.

"Come on, let get you inside. Glenn, get the others and bring them in," Kaiya told me, keeping a supporting arm around Maggie's waist and tugging her gently inside.

I stared after them in wonder. What was it about girls that made them all either best friends instantly or mortal enemies within the first 2 seconds of knowing each other?

I hadn't noticed Daryl, who was standing right beside me, watching them as well. But there was a different look in his eyes. Despite the loving gaze he gave to Kaiya, when he looked down at me, they were instantly back to mean-as-hell and hard. It made me wonder if I had really seen that softness. Nah.

Then he said something that I couldn't have agreed with more. "Chicks are fuckin' weird."

KAIYA'S POV:

I grabbed Maggie a glass of water and some fruit to eat and then turned to the rest of the camp, who were dawdling in the doorway. They were eyeing the well-stocked kitchen. I rolled my eyes at them. "Eat, you crazy fools."

Carol and Lori immediately set to seeing what they had to work with. The kids went to explore, and the men stockpiled their guns beside the door.

I glanced concernedly back at Maggie who was barely nibbling on the side of an apricot. We hadn't ever really talked much when we stayed on her father's land, but when I saw how terrible she looked to be feeling, I felt very protective of her. It seemed like an almost maternal instinct kicked in. But that was ridiculous. Maggie was 4, maybe 5 years older than me.

Daryl grabbed my hand and pulled me to the couch with him, cradling me against his chest. I was surprised he was being so intimate with me while the others were around, but after certain… events… I supposed it made us a bit more comfortable with public displays. No one else was really paying much attention to us, but I saw Glenn watching us, obviously suspicious of our newfound comfort with each other.

Rather than take too much notice of Glenn's gaze, I stood from the couch and observed the rack of DVDs against the wall. I picked one up and grinned widely to myself. "You ever seen this one before?" I asked, holding it out to Daryl.

"The Boondock Saints?" he said, reading the plastic cover. "Nope."

I looked over the back of the couch at Lori and Carol in the kitchen. "Carol, Lori, do you guys care if Carl and Sophia watch a movie with us?"

They both hesitated, frowning at the prospect of exposing their children to any kind of movie I would be watching.

I sighed. "I've seen this movie a million times. I know where all the bad parts are so I'll cover their eyes when they come. It'll be fine." I held my right hand up. "Scout's honor."

They chuckled at me, but nodded.

Carl and Sophia (who had come in only a few minutes ago after getting bored with looking around) hopped up onto the couch with me and Daryl. Carl, who idolized Daryl, sat beside him, under his arm. I laid out on most of the couch, with my back resting against Daryl's side, his arm wrapped around my shoulder. Sophia sat in my lap while I absently played with her hair.

The opening scene played: the MacManus brothers in a church. When the camera zoomed in enough to be able to really see Murphy's face, I pointed at the screen and said, "See? He looks exactly like you!"

Everyone around us (who had come to watch if only because it symbolized the perk of electricity) stared between Daryl and Murphy on the screen, dumbfounded.

Daryl shrugged. "I don't see it."

"Okay, well, you're fucking retarded," I said, clapping my hands over Sophia's ears as I cussed. Daryl hadn't known what I was going to say, so he was a bit late and wasn't able to protect Carl's virgin ears from my profanity.

I continued to play with Sophia's hair, watching her sweet dimpled grin.

I had never really thought about having kids, but I supposed I would like to have them. Maybe if the world wasn't the way it was…

The ending credits rolled. Carl and Sophia were no longer with us. Nobody was.

Daryl was asleep and snoring lightly on top of my head, his cheek pressed to the top of it.

I was glad Daryl was such a heavy sleeper. I got up and turned the DVD player and the TV off and then laid Daryl gently back down along the length of the couch, curling up against him once more and grinning when his sleeping body reacted instinctually to fit his arms to the shape of my small frame.


	14. Betrayed

KAIYA'S POV:

It was amazing how easy it was to get back into the normal swing of things with the other campers. I mean, sure, we had only been away from them for like two days, but it seemed like so much had changed since then. And, as I noticed Daryl staring after me passionately, I though maybe a lot had changed.

We assigned chores. I had feeding the goats. Daryl had fence-repairing and other handiwork. We had both also volunteered for taking care of the horses. If only for a few minutes of alone time. I don't think we were fooling anyone with the pretense, though.

Glenn still gave us that same suspicious gaze, but it didn't seem like he knew what was going on. I thanked my lucky stars for my brother's apparent obliviousness. His comprehension would have just made things awkward.

Merle seemed to notice what was going on, though. He didn't outright say anything (which surprised me at first), but when I was feeding the goats one morning, I saw him whispering something in Emily's ear. Her eyes widened and her head automatically snapped up to look at me and then Daryl.

But Daryl and I weren't the only ones receiving odd looks. Maybe I was the only one that noticed, but then again maybe not… Shane and Merle appeared to have made some kind of a truce. And it was strange because whatever club they had formed seemed to be centered around speaking in hushed tones and glaring at Rick.

Shane seemed to be getting more and more cracked by the day. His eyes held a spark of the insanity I could only remember having seen in the eyes of a cousin I had who had been committed because of her claim that her medication was talking, telling her to take outrageous amounts of their brethren.

Everyone else seemed fine, but Emily seemed to be getting frustrated by Merle's obvious dislike for T-dog, who was almost like a friend to her. Maggie was regaining some of her color, and Glenn seemed to be helping her through the rough time she was having. Everything was about as fine as it ever was in our little slice of the post-apocalyptic world.

Until the night I had to run out to the stables. Daryl and I had decided to meet there after everyone went to sleep, so we didn't wake anyone up. I had left early. But I was intercepted on my way to the stables.

"Kaiya?" Shane asked, standing from his seat inside the door of the RV.

I jumped. I hadn't seen him there. "Shane, you scared me!"

He smiled apologetically. "What are you doing out here?" he asked, pointing around the landscape with his gun.

I shrugged. "I- uh, forgot something in the stables, I think." I pointed to the big red building.

Damn Shane. Now Daryl and I would have to go somewhere else. Daryl was still inside, waiting for the last of the campers to go to sleep.

"I'll walk you over there," Shane offered. "Just in case there's a walker."

I was fairly sure there weren't going to be any walkers out here yet, but I kept quiet and just nodded. "Thanks, Shane."

He followed beside me as I walked to the stables. "So what'd you forget in here?" Shane asked, glancing around.

I floundered in my head, but tried to remain calm. "My phone."

He cocked a brow at me.

"There's some stuff on that phone that I wanted. Music and stuff like that."

He didn't appear to understand it, but he let it go.

I had to make a show of sifting through hay bales for it. "Huh," I said, still leaned over one of the hay bales. "Its not here. I guess I'll have to check my bag again-"

I turned around, but Shane was right in front of me, towering over me with that crazy look in his eye. He didn't say anything, just lifted a finger to his lips and nodded to the gun in his hand. The one that was pointed at me.

What the hell was going on?

He clapped his hand over my mouth and dropped the gun, grabbing the collar of my shirt up in his hands. He ripped my shirt straight down the middle in one swift movement. He backed me up against a wall before I could gather enough courage (and sense) to lash out at him.

My heart was beating faster as I recalled the night I lost my memory. It was strikingly similar to this occasion.

He removed his hand from my mouth and I was about to cry out for help, but his hand was immediately replaced by his mouth. I kept my mouth rigid, my face pulling away. But he was having none of that.

He gripped me tighter and began tearing at the remainder of my clothes. Even as the tears streamed down my face and he achieved his goal, I couldn't help but think _why is it always me?_

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**Oh dang :O So tell me what you guys think! Poor Kaiya :( Review! I have loved reading all of your thoughts and opinions on the story so far! :D **_  
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	15. Guilty

DARYL'S POV:

This kid just didn't seem to want to go to sleep. Glenn leaned against the counter across from me and just watched me, surprising me when he didn't flinch back from my grimace.

Kaiya had already gone out, to the stables where I should have met her already, but Glenn didn't appear sleepy. If it weren't for the fact that Kaiya cared so much about him, I might've helped with his insomnia. But violence didn't seem like a good thing right now.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms and squinting my eyes at him.

He took a deep breath and, without looking away from me for even a moment, asked, "Did you sleep with my sister?"

Uhhh… I could feel the surprise as well as the slight guilt written all across my face.

Glenn looked like he was going to be sick.

"That's none o' yer business, short round," I grumbled half-heartedly.

He looked back up at me. "That's my sister. It is my business."

I glared at the ground, unable to argue with that.

"Fine," he said softly. "Just do me a favor, huh?"

I looked up at him.

"Don't hurt her."

I nodded. "I wouldn't."

He sighed and tapped the counter before turning and heading down the hall.

When he was out of sight, I rushed out the back door and across the driveway to the stables.

I heard a strange noise when I reached the entrance. It was like heavy breathing. On the ground in front of one of the stalls, I saw a pistol laying alone. I gritted my teeth, unable to accept the possibility that that might be Kaiya.

I ran forward and grabbed up the pistol, aiming into the stall, ready to shoot at a walker. But what I saw was Shane. He was pinning Kaiya up against the wall, her clothes ripped and hanging off her in shreds. There were tears running down her face and she had her eyes squeezed shut.

Shane didn't even realize that anyone else was there before I shot him. I moved to his side and shot through his temple. He fell limply to the ground and Kaiya sank to her knees.

I grabbed her up in my arms and held her tightly, allowing her to cry on me, squeezing my shirt to keep a better hold on me. I lifted her easily and carried her back to the house. I found her some clothes that weren't destroyed and handed them to her. I left her to get dressed and went back out to the stables, staring down at Shane's body.

"Piece o' shit," I spat, kicking his ribs as hard as I could. I could feel a stinging in my eyes. I gritted my teeth against it and grabbed him by the foot, beginning to drag him out of the stables.

I had only made it to the entrance when I heard a growl that could only belong to a walker. I dropped Shane's foot and looked around, searching for the source of the noise. But it wasn't coming from a bush or a shadow like I had been expecting.

Shane hopped up, his eyes blood-shot in the whites and trained on me. Why hadn't I brought a gun with me?

I tried to turn quickly and run back to the house, but I tripped on something and fell before I could even face my destination.

Shane was just about to bend over me and start digging in when a bullet tunneled through his forehead. He dropped to the ground once more, this time for good.

I looked up. Kaiya was standing between me and the house, her tormented eyes glued to the spot Shane had been standing. The gun was still gripped tightly in her hand. Her black hair blew around her in the wind.

"Kaiya." I jumped up and ran to her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and more tears slid out as she lowered the gun and her shoulders sagged. I tugged her with me back into the house, making sure I had locked the doors.

We didn't sleep that night. We stayed up. Kaiya crying, me holding her. I wont admit it to anyone, but I let a few slide too.

Oo0oO

We were both relieved when the sun rose. I could feel the dark circles under my eyes. I kept them closed, though, and stroked Kaiya's hair again, guilt welling up inside my chest when she whimpered and clung tighter to me.

It was my fault she had been raped again. If I had just gone and left Glenn to go to bed whenever he was good and ready, this wouldn't have happened.

She sniffled and abruptly sat up, staring at the bed beneath us. "Lets go tell the others," she whispered, her voice raw from her tears.

I nodded once and stood, helping her get to the living room where everyone was just getting ready to go out and do their chores. No one had been out yet to see Shane's body. Their eyes instantly shot up to Kaiya and I when we walked through the doorway. They could see the exhaustion and (in Kaiya's case) pained look in our eyes.

They flocked to us, demanding to know what had happened.

Kaiya couldn't answer them. She shook her head, her lower lip trembling and turned into my side, hiding her face there.

I wrapped my arm tighter around her, trying to ignore the eyes of the others. "Ya may want the kids to leave the room," I murmured, not taking my eyes from Kaiya.

After Rick and Carol had sent the children away, I began to recount the tale. "I went outside last night and went to the stables. Shane was there. And he-" I hesitated, not wanting to say it.

But they got the message when my eyes slid to Kaiya.

"I shot him."

There were a few looks of blank shock and some of terror.

I looked up at Rick, my voice a bit more demanding. "But there's somethin' you might wanna explain to me. How the hell did he get back up after that?"

Everyone glanced back in confusion at Rick.

He just kept looking evenly at me, but I could see his jaw clenching and unclenching in his discomfort. "Its something Jenner told me back at the CDC," he said, nearly whispering. "We're all infected."

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**:O Oh my goodness! So review, and lemme know what you think! **


	16. Immune

KAIYA'S POV:

Even I had to look up in astonishment at this news. We were all infected? How was that possible? The shock broke through my horrific depression. "What do you mean? How does that work? When we die the disease just… kicks in? So we're - what - carriers?"

He seemed afraid to answer any of the questions I fired at him. He shook his head. "Its not exactly like we're carriers, but it kind of is. Carriers wouldn't be affected if they were bitten. Any one of us could be bitten and infected. But yes. If we die, we turn no matter what. Except you."

I barely caught his whispered last words. My eyes narrowed at him.

"What do ya mean?" Daryl asked, tightening his arm protectively around me.

Rick's lost, hopeless look could've had something to do with anything, ranging from the stress of being our leader, to the last few months of running and going without much food. He seemed to age as I watched him, though. "'Kaiya is neither infected nor susceptible to the disease.' So Jenner said. He wanted to take samples of your blood and use it to try and create a cure, but there was no time. His breaths were already numbered. He knew the CDC was going to kill us even when we came inside."

I had no words, no thoughts to go with this new piece of information. The only thing my numb mind registered was Daryl's sigh of… well, relief. I wasn't sure when, but the others got up and left while I was staring incomprehensibly down at my hands.

After an immeasurable amount of time, Daryl lifted my chin with his finger and looked concernedly down into my eyes. "What's the matter?" he asked calmly.

"You're all infected," I whispered. "And I'm… not? I cant even catch it?"

I couldn't wrap my head around it. It was the zombie virus. There weren't supposed to be exceptions to its wrath. It was the disease everyone in the world had nightmares about. It was what we had been running from this whole time. And I was safe from it?

Sure they could still eat me alive, but if they only got in enough time for one bite, I would be safe from harm. Surely I couldn't be the only one. What about all the others we had left who had been bitten and we hadn't even waited to see if they were immune like I was. It had never occurred to any of us that there might even be a possibility of an immunity. I might've shot Miguel for nothing… I wouldn't think of that now.

It was good, but at the same time… What about Daryl?

I glanced up at him, but his only worry seemed to be my mental health. "How are you so calm?" I asked.

Daryl would have been the one expected to kick up a major fuss at having found out that he was infected. He shrugged. "I don't really care if I'm infected. It don't take effect unless I get bit or I die. I aint plannin' on lettin' anyone but you close enough to do that. And I don't think I gotta worry about ya killin' me." He sighed. "I'm just glad yer safe. If you were infected, I-" he stopped, unable to finish it. I could guess what he might say. He would be worried, he would never leave me alone, he would have kicked up that fuss…

He put too much regard in my life and not enough in his.

I sighed and leaned against him. "Daryl," I whispered. "Don't you ever let anyone bite you or kill you."

He chuckled and squeezed me to his chest. "Don't worry," he whispered in my ear. "I got more of a reason now to keep myself safe than I ever did."

"Eww!" Merle said, announcing his presence in the room.

Daryl grimaced, but didn't turn around to look at him or loosen his hold on me.

"Come on," I muttered to Daryl, standing from the couch and heading back to the room we had staked out.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking over the possibilities of passing my immunity on to a child. But I didn't realize it for a while.

Oo0oO

We disposed of Shane's body, driving it out to the edge of the driveway and leaving it there. Hopefully his deadness would mask the stench of the living beyond that point. And hopefully the kids wouldn't venture this far out.

After the initial shock of finding out that they were all infected, the other campers went back to normal. The only thing that changed was a deep brooding look I sometimes noticed in their eyes.

I tried not to let the gene that protected me from the disease change the way I looked at things. I couldn't afford to let myself believe it was less dangerous out there for me than it was for the other campers. If I did that, I could get cocky on a run to town and end up strewn across the streets. There was no immunity for that.

I quickly got over the violent rage Shane had taken out on me just before he died; I would no longer be the victim. I could die tomorrow, there was no time to mope about something a dead man did. But Daryl didn't seem ready to let go of it so easily. Any time Shane was even mentioned, Daryl snarled and scowled at the ground.

It was two weeks later that I got some rather disturbing news. "I'm late," I whispered, staring at myself in the mirror. "I'm late." I watched as the color drained from my face.

I couldn't have a baby in the middle of all of this. But, as I thought about it, now seemed the best time. While Daryl and I were alive and healthy enough to take care of a child. While we were up here, miles from any city, in a self-sustaining house with plenty of food and animals. It was better than while we were nomadically moving from camp site to camp site.

But was I ready to have a kid? Was Daryl ready? Hell, I was only 17! I had to talk to someone. I had to…

Lori. She was a mother. Carol was too devout to believe any good could come from my out-of-wedlock baby. Lori was a mother, I could just talk to her.

I nodded, shaking, and headed out the door into the room where Daryl was sprawled out on the bed, his arm over his eyes.

My hand flew to my stomach. As much as I didn't think it was safe to have a kid in light of recent circumstances, I wanted this baby. I hoped it had Daryl's eyes, and I hoped it laughed a lot… I hoped I really was pregnant.

I dropped my hand before he could look up and notice it. I went over to the bed and sat on the edge. Without opening his eyes, he pulled me down with him so that I was laying against his side.

I was half-scared of what Daryl would say if I told him, and half-anxious. But the words stuck in my throat. I would just wait till later when I knew for sure that I was pregnant.

He sighed and peeked one eye open, looking down at me. "'ts the matter?" he asked sleepily, though it couldn't have been past noon yet.

"Nothing, why would anything be the matter?" my nervous, squeaky voice only made him more suspicious. I cleared my throat and started again. "Nothing's wrong. I- uh… I'm gonna go talk to Lori."

His suspicion deepened but he said nothing as I stood and left the room. It was easy to find Lori. She was sitting on the couch reading a book with a couch cushion in her lap. Carol was behind her in the kitchen. Carl was lounging on the ground with a coloring book and Sophia was critiquing his skills.

I kept my gaze carefully away from the way Carol watched them fondly. "Lori?" I asked.

She looked up curiously.

"Could I talk to you outside for a sec?"

She looked worried, but nodded and stuck a bookmark in the book. We went outside and walked over to the goat pen, leaning against the fence and watching them play around. "What's up?" she asked.

"Lori," I started slowly, unsure how to start. "What would you do if you were pregnant again?" I kept my eyes on the goats, but I saw her turn her head to look at me.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Why did she sound nervous? I was the one admitting I was 17 and pregnant.

"I mean… How would you go about telling people? Or would you just keep quiet about it?"

She gave me a dangerous look. "If your trying to threaten me-"

"Threaten you?" I asked incredulously. "What are you talking about? I'm asking you for advice here."

Her eyes popped wide. "You're pregnant?"

I shushed her and clapped a hand over her mouth, glancing around to be sure no one had heard her. When I assessed that we were safe, I nodded and pulled my hand back. "I'm late."

She shook her head. "Have you told Daryl yet?"

I shook my head. "I'm not even sure if I really am. I haven't taken a test or anything."

She sighed and then nodded to herself. "I'm pregnant, too."

I couldn't explain the relief I felt. Someone else would be there with me. Someone who had done this before and was doing it again.

"I took a pregnancy test while we were on Herschel's farm," she explained. "I made Glenn go into town and grab it."

"Well, I cant ask Glenn to get a pregnancy test for me. He's way too overprotective. He'd get himself hurt trying to kick Daryl's ass." I rolled my eyes and leaned on the fence, resigned.

"I could ask Glenn to go get me another one, then. I'll tell him the first one said I was pregnant, but I don't know for sure if I am anymore. He wont ask many questions; he doesn't want to hear all the details."

I smiled at her. "Thanks, Lori."

She nodded at me, "Don't worry about it," and threw an arm around my shoulder to guide me back to the house.

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**Oh so much drama :D Review! Thanks for reading! By the way, guys, I am writing another Walking Dead fanfic about Kaiya and Daryl. Also, there will be a pairing for Rick and another OC. It is still kind of in its first stages of progress, but it should be out before too long. I'll let you guys know when and you should totally go check it out :) **


	17. Coming Clean

DARYL'S POV:

Glenn was running into town again, and I was a bit curious as to why; we had just about everything we could possibly need here. Food, water, medicine…

But Lori was the one sending him, so I assumed it was girly stuff and didn't ask.

Kaiya was acting strange all day. Normally that girl couldn't sit still to save her life. And she sure as hell couldn't stop talking. But now, it seemed like most of her time was spent trying to appear busy while she stared into space and chewed on her nail. Occasionally she would touch her stomach, so I assumed she might've been getting sick. But she refused and said it was nothing.

That Maggie girl was getting better and better every day. She was actually smiling and laughing with everyone else now.

We hadn't seen a walker since Shane.

Everything was perfect.

KAIYA'S POV:

Glenn didn't even notice Lori inconspicuously hand me the plastic bag wrapped around the test that I stuck in the back of my jeans.

"Come on, come on, come on," I murmured, leaning against the counter while I waited for the test to be done.

I counted down the seconds. When I reached zero, though I had been eagerly awaiting the results, I appeared unable to even touch the stick for a few minutes. I just stared at it.

Then, closing my eyes and reaching out with a shaky hand, I picked it up and flipped it over. I drew in three deep breaths before opening my eyes to the little plus sign.

DARYL'S POV:

Kaiya seemed a bit happier as she crawled onto the bed with me, sighing contentedly as she leaned her head on my shoulder.

"You bipolar, er somethin'?" I asked, laying my hand on her hair.

She shook her head at me with a childlike smile that reminded me of earlier days at the quarry when I had struggled with my feelings for someone so young. It all seemed ridiculous now.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "What's with ya?"

"Well," she started, looking away from me. "I've been trying to figure out how to tell you this, and I didn't really know for sure at first, but now I do know and I still don't know how to tell you, but I guess I should try-"

I put my hand over her mouth. "Kaiya. Point?" I pulled my hand back when she just glared at me.

"I'm pregnant."

My ears seemed to ring for a long time after that. "Yer what?" I asked weakly after a few minutes of silence.

She smiled at me. "I'm pregnant, Daryl."

"Is it mine?" I asked impulsively.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Who else's?"

I didn't want to bring him back up, but it was a possibility she didn't seem to have taken into account. "Shane." We both flinched at the reminder.

She shook her head in denial. "No. This cant be Shane's."

I didn't want to ruin her happiness at the news, so I pulled her into my arms and held her close for a long time. "Are ya happy?" I whispered.

She nodded. "I don't know why, but… I really want this."

I kissed the top of her head.

"What about you?" she asked, tilting her head up to look at me. I stared down into her hazel, butterscotch colors eyes.

How could I not be happy when she looked at me like that? I chuckled quietly. "'course I am."

"I mean… Do you want to have this baby?" She looked up at me with a frown in her eyes.

I thought about it. Sure it might be Shane's, but it could also be mine. Hell, if it was Kaiya's baby, it was mine no matter who the father was. I would be the best father there ever was, even out the scales for the shitty parenting job my dad did with me and Merle.

"Yes."

Sure the apocalypse wasn't exactly the most child-safe environment, but who knew when the next time we would get peace and freedom like this was?

She laughed. "Merle's gonna be an uncle."

Oh God…

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**Oh goodness :D Thanks for reading! Please review! :)**


	18. The Big News

GLENN'S POV:

Carol and Lori were working on dinner and Maggie and I were talking quietly about the pros and cons of living in the country (before the apocalypse) when Kaiya and Daryl came out of their room, hands clasped together tightly. Everyone was in the room.

"Guys," Kaiya said, calling for attention and then turning red when all the eyes in the room turned to her.

I was surprised at her. She had braved crowds of people when dancing, and hadn't ever really been prone to stage fright.

She looked back at Daryl, who nodded and pulled her a bit closer, providing some kind of moral support. "I've got some kinda big news," she continued.

Lori stepped up then, standing beside her and taking her other hand, nodding to her once. "So do I."

I furrowed my brows. I only knew of one thing that would come from Lori that would need an introduction like that. And if Kaiya said what I hoped she wouldn't…

"We're pregnant."

"You're what?!" I asked, my voice becoming louder than it had ever been. They all knew I wasn't talking to Lori. "How did this-" I cut myself off. I knew exactly how this had happened. I turned to glare at Daryl.

In a single second of over-protectiveness, I forgot that Daryl was bigger and stronger than me. I forgot that he was my sister's baby daddy. I forgot my own meagerness.

I rushed forward and tried swinging my fist at him, but he was ready for me. He backed up and ducked under my flailing arms.

I was about to take a second swing at him, but Kaiya stepped in between us, her eyes narrowed at me menacingly. No matter how mad I was, I couldn't hurt her. Especially not if she was pregnant.

I lost all of the anger-fueled strength I had obtained and dropped my fist with a sigh. "Are you sure?" I asked quietly.

She took my hand and made me look up into her determined eyes. Though there was a hardness and strength in them that had seemed innate her whole life, she smirked and replied, "Positive."

I nodded weakly and she released my hand to step back next to Daryl.

Everyone was buzzing about the pregnancy, Carol frowning at Kaiya and Daryl's obvious lack of matrimony, but still happy for them. Dale hugged Kaiya gently, seemingly afraid to hurt the baby that couldn't feel him yet.

I was almost sad. She was only seventeen. This wasn't supposed to happen now.

She was supposed to graduate high school and go to college at Georgia tech. She was supposed to meet the perfect guy with the perfect job and get married and have perfect kids later. Like 20 years later.

But, as I watched her laughing with the others, Daryl's arm wrapped gently around her waist… Even more, when I watched the way they looked at each other, a sparkle in their eyes…

I knew this was what would have happened to Kaiya even if she hadn't been practically shoved into Daryl's arms by fate when the walkers came around. Somehow, they would have found each other. They would have stolen glances at each other like they had at the quarry, and quickly become good friends. They would have gotten into fights and not spoken to each other for days at a time. But in the end, even if things were normal and the dead didn't walk, they would have fallen in love.

MERLE'S POV:

I was a bit miffed that Shane had died, but quite honestly, keeping up with his vendetta was tiring even for me. I had gotten bored with plotting against Rick long ago. He wasn't forgiven and I damn sure wasn't going to be doing anything for his benefit, but I wasn't pissed off enough to kill him anymore.

And now I was going to be an uncle. Daryl knocked up Kaiya. I had to say, I wasn't the least bit surprised. What I was surprised about was the fact that Daryl seemed… happy. He wanted to have the kid.

Well, hopefully he took good care of the girl and that kid. If he didn't, I'd have to remind him what dad had been like in a violent haze.

The girl had grown to be like family to me. And if she was having my brother's baby, that baby was going to be as well looked-after as it could be by a temperamental redneck with a missing hand.

ANDREA'S POV:

I don't know that anyone was really surprised that Kaiya was pregnant. I guess it had already registered that they were doing the dirty. Subconsciously, of course.

It was just strange to consciously realize it.

If Amy were here…

RICK'S POV:

I had said I was fine with their relationship, but honestly I hadn't expected much to come of it. Neither of them really seemed like the intimate, emotional people we caught glimpses of nowadays.

But now Kaiya was pregnant. I couldn't say I really approved of the conception, but that was their business. Besides, its not like their were any legal priests around that could marry them.

LORI'S POV:

I was just proud that Kaiya got it out.

CAROL'S POV:

I wasn't sure how I felt about Kaiya's pregnancy. I didn't really like the fact that they were having a child out of wedlock, but I didn't suppose they couldn't just walk into a church and get married willy-nilly like they could have before.

DALE'S POV:

I was happy for them.

Daryl especially. It seemed like the longer he and Kaiya stayed together, the more calm he got. Maybe a child would make him even more level-headed.

T-DOG'S POV:

It wasn't really my business, but I didn't see how a good, smart, pretty girl like Kaiya could end up with a Dixon. She could have ended up with a real good guy if any of them were still alive. Instead she ended up with white trash.

At least he treated her good. She could probably give him a run for his money if he ever tried anything she didn't like. But I didn't think Daryl had it in him to even think of lifting a hand to that girl. She had him wrapped around her little finger.

She had changed all of us, and made both Dixons a bit less rowdy and angry. They were still quick-tempered, but they were less asshole-like. It was nice.

EMILY'S POV:

I couldn't explain the quick stab of jealousy I felt.

I had given Daryl up, even though he had never really been mine to give in the first place. But the loss of something I hadn't had made me frown internally.

I had made my peace with Kaiya. But I wanted what she had.

I wanted Daryl to look at me like that. I wanted him to hold me like he held her. I wanted to carry his child.

But I guess I had Merle.

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**I enjoyed writing this chapter for some reason :) Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D **


	19. I Owe Him

KAIYA'S POV:

"You know, pregnancy's not really all that bad," I murmured thoughtfully, leaning against the pillows.

"Ya've only known ya were pregnant for four days," Daryl said with a chuckle.

"Its still not that bad," I mumbled.

He took my hand and drew me into his side.

I thought numbly about the challenges that normal parents faced with their first child. Things would be even more difficult for us what with our intense age difference as well as the fact that the world wasn't the safe place a child should grow up thinking it is.

"What are we gonna do, Daryl?" I whispered, looking up into his blue eyes.

His stubble had grown out a bit since I had met him, and his hair had only grown a tiny bit since the last time I cut it, but those eyes stayed the same no matter what.

He tightened his hold on me and sighed. "I don't know."

We stayed quiet, watching each other carefully for a while before I said, "What about names?"

He shrugged. "Boy names or girl names?"

I thought about it. "What do you want?"

He shrugged again. "I don't really care."

Stupid boy.

"Okay. How about we come up with a girl name and a boy name? Then we're prepared for either."

He nodded.

"I get to choose the girl's first name and the boys middle name. You get to pick the girl's middle name and the boy's first name."

He frowned. "Why do ya get to pick what we get to pick?"

I smiled. "I get to pick because I'm the one pushing this kid for hours on end through my-"

"Okay, okay!" Daryl said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Enough o' the language 'round the kid." He put his hands to my stomach.

"Okay, so," I said. "Got a boy's name?"

He thought for a moment and asked, "Kodi?"

I laughed out loud. "That's weird! I decided on Jodi for a girl's name."

He laughed at me and kissed my forehead. "Now what 'bout middle names?"

I knew what I wanted the boy's middle name to be... and I knew Daryl wouldn't like it. "Uh, you first," I muttered.

"Chase. Like yer dad."

I grinned, surprised he remembered and touched at the thought. How could I tell him that I planned on naming his son after someone I had loved in a very different way? Someone I had lost... Someone Daryl had hated.

"Now, what's the boy's middle name?" he asked.

I swallowed and changed the subject. "You know, speaking of middle names, I don't even know your's."

He thought about it. "Yeah, I don't know yer's either."

I shrugged. "What's your middle name?"

He answered immediately. "James."

Huh... Daryl James Dixon.

He stared expectantly at me.

"Mine's Lilliana."

He snorted.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"Like it aint enough yer first and last names are weird..."

I rolled my eyes at him, hoping he had forgot about the boy's middle name.

"So," he said. "What's the middle name you picked?"

I sighed. Damn it. "Miguel," I whispered, so low I was sure he wouldn't be able to hear.

I didn't look up as he stood from the bed. I didn't look up as he paced across the length of the room. And I sure as hell didn't look up to meet his angry glare.

"Miguel, huh?" he asked, surprisingly quiet.

I was shocked into looking up, but the venom was clear in his eyes. I felt the need to protect my dead friend. "Just what is it that you've got against him?"

His response was automatic, almost reflexive. "He had ya when I couldn't. When I wanted to."

"This again? Daryl, Emily was like that for me, too, but I don't hate her anymore. Besides, Miguel's," I choked the word out. "dead. Cant you just let it go?"

His blue eyes turned to ice. "But I aint trying to name our kid after Emily."

I flinched back, staring down at the bed. "Daryl, I owe a lot to him. I tricked him and lied to him. And he had to die still believing the lies I told him. It was stupid and selfish of us to involve other people. But we did and Miguel died not knowing the truth. And I was the one to kill him." I could barely speak above a whisper.

"Ya didn't kill him. That walker did."

"How do you know?" I could feel his confused, slightly incredulous gaze.

"What do ya mean, how do I know? I saw the walker, I saw the bite."

I glanced sharply up at him. "What if he was like me?"

He had no response for this.

"What if he was immune, too, Daryl? What if he was and just a few minutes later, if I hadn't pulled the trigger, he would've hopped up and been complaining about his neck in Spanish?"

He stayed silent, his jaw set.

"I might have killed him, Daryl. I cant be the only one. There have to be more people out there like me."

He turned to the door, but just as his hand touched the knob, I spoke again, stopping him. "I owe him Daryl. I took advantage of his trust and then took his life. Please. You have to understand-"

"I don't gotta understand nothin'," he said, half-way looking over his shoulder at me. He strode out the door, slamming it behind him.


	20. Scary Again

DARYL'S POV:

I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I had to get away from there.

Miguel? Really? Of all the dead things to pop up and try to rip your heart out...

I stormed about halfway down the driveway before Andrea pulled up next to me in Lori's station wagon. "What are you doing, Daryl?" she asked, exasperatedly.

"Gettin' away," I spat back.

"What, to town?" She kept the car at a very slow pace, matching my own speed.

"Maybe."

She sighed. "Kaiya would be worried sick if she knew you were going out now. That kind of pressure isn't good for a pregnant woman no matter how far along they are."

I glared at her. "She sure as hell didn't stop me when I walked out. She was only worried about one thing. Some dumb dead kid."

She stomped on the brake.

I looked up at her, her sudden lurching stop alarming me.

She was staring hard at the steering wheel, gripping it tight. "What 'dumb dead kid'?"

I closed my eyes, angry all over at the fact that this could be construed as something to do with Amy. "Miguel," I said, huffing it out on a gust of air.

She turned her head slowly, to look at me condescendingly. As though I was just some idiot who needed everything explained to him. "Miguel? You're worried about _him_? Kaiya already put a bullet in his skull, what more do you want?"

My anger flared again. "She's tryin' to name our kid after him."

She looked surprised. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Some shit about owing it to him."

I wouldn't admit that the reason I was mad wasn't because she wanted to name our child after him... but because her logic behind it made sense to me. In a strange way, I understood why she would feel the need to do that. And it pissed me off.

"Daryl, get in the car," Andrea sighed. I just watched her for a second. She rolled her eyes and leaned over to open the door. "If Kaiya gets too worked up it will screw with the fetus. Meaning your baby will come out with some kind of birth defect. Do you want that to happen just because she was worried you might storm off and get yourself killed?"

When she spoke of the unborn kid, I immediately took a step forward, then another one, more hesitantly this time. I got into the station wagon with her and she started driving down the driveway. I had assumed she was going to take me back to the house. "Where're we goin'?"

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. "I wanna show you something." She continued on down the driveway until she made the turn out into the road that led to the only town around.

"So, uh," I started, already feeling a bit sheepish now that my anger had somewhat subsided. "Ya said it could hurt the baby if Kaiya gets too stressed out?"

Andrea nodded. "Or too depressed or too mad or too much of anything. Its important that her mood fluctuates because that's what helps the baby grow, but if its too much of something, it could hurt the baby."

I gaped at her. "How'd ya know so much about this?"

She shrugged, staring at the road as if she weren't seeing it. "I thought I was pregnant once," her tone was faraway. "Read a lot of baby books and even went to a doctor. Turns out it was a false alarm."

Things were quiet between us the entire time as I processed this new information. Andrea had almost had a kid? I didn't see her as the maternal kind. Really, the only parental bond she seemed to have at all had been with her sister Amy. But ever since her death, Andrea looked at Kaiya as sort of an honorary sister, since she was closest to Amy before the incident. It seemed Kaiya took more care of Andrea than she took of her, though.

We drove into Loganville and Andrea didn't slow down even a little.

"What-" I broke off, looking up at the faces of walkers, lifting as they processed that something else was moving around through the town with them.

"Its been a while since we've seen one, huh?" Andrea murmured.

I nodded, not sure where she was going with this.

"Its almost scary again."

I knew what she meant. I had just about pissed myself the first time I saw a walker. But, after months of running from them, hiding, and killing them, we had sort of grown numb to the shock of the undead. After such a prolonged absence of walkers, it was freakily similar to the first time one had popped up in front of me and took a snap at me.

Rotten flesh, hanging off in strands, clung to their faces, and newer flesh stuck to their teeth. Their bloodshot eyes, searching wildly without really comprehending anything, wheeled around in their empty skulls.

The thought of my kid growing up in a world like this... I shivered.

"We've got all the protection we need just holing up in that house on that farm," Andrea said, softly, though her voice made me jump after my speculations. "But we still jump every time we hear a noise. We still get tense whenever someone turns up with a paper cut, jumping to conclusions. We'll never get away from them, Daryl." She looked up at me now. "I don't know how long that place is gonna hold, but it seems to be doing alright for now. Travel isn't good for a pregnant woman. I love Kaiya, too. Obviously not in the same way you do. But we have to make sure that place holds at least long enough for Kaiya to have that baby. Lori, too."

I nodded, still confused. Why had she brought me out into the town to show me walkers, only to tell me this?

To lighten the mood, I grumbled, "So is this the part where ya kiss me again?"

She chuckled at the reminder of the night she tricked me into telling her the truth about my feelings for Kaiya. Back then, things had almost seemed simple... "No, I'll leave that to Kaiya. Now, let's go," she made an illegal U-turn (not that she would be getting a ticket anytime soon) and headed back toward the farm. She pulled up back in the spot Lori had first parked the station wagon in.

Kaiya had been sitting in one of the green plastic lawn chairs on the slab of concrete outside the door, holding her stomach and looking down at it, her expression hidden from view. If I didn't know better, I would've thought she was getting sick.

I hopped out of the car. The slamming of the door made her look up. There were tears still making their way down her cheeks. I gritted my teeth and walked forward. She stood up, and began walking toward me as well.

I caught her halfway.

She lifted both hands to hold my face and looked me over "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?" she worried over me for a moment before I shook my head.

"Nah, I'm fine." I looked down at the ground. Though I should've had more than enough practice with it after meeting this girl, I still wasn't too good at the whole apologizing thing. "Look, Kaiya, I'm-"

She cut me off. "Daryl, don't. I get it."

I smiled down at her, grateful for being spared the humility I wasn't accustomed to. "We'll name the kid whatever ya want," I murmured, forcing the words out.

She smiled up at me, the tears seeming to disappear right then. "Thank you," she whispered, leaning up to kiss me.

I tried to smile at her, but the reminder of Miguel was still unwelcome. At least I could cling to the hope that maybe it wouldn't be a boy and I wouldn't have to pretend that my own son's namesake wasn't someone I had hated fiercely.

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**Leave me some comments, guys, I love hearing your thoughts on what's going on. Especially now that the story line is all my own. I know that because it's my own story line now, it's getting a bit stale, but hopefully that will change soon, so be gentle :) **


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